Hounds Tongue Plant Specimen from 1879 Herbarium sculptural handle While I can't say for

While I can't say for certain it is that old

3 3/4" t x 2 5/8" w

I believe a mask like this one would have been used in initiation rituals

No instructions

as they put an awfully lot of work into the carving of the cover

Hounds Tongue Plant Specimen from 1879 Herbarium sculptural handle While I can't say forI have a fantasy that one day at a flea market I'll uncover a beautiful antique herbarium that's been sitting in the bottom of a box for 150 years or so filled with page upon page of perfectly documented pressed and dried plant specimens. Alas, this has yet to happen, but I did recently find this and one other (listed separately) herbarium pages, I'd guess removed from a larger volume. This one is Hounds Tongue, a robust plant, as one can see (!),