French Soldiers and Sailors Painted Wooden Skittle Set bird in cage I've looked at a fair

I've looked at a fair number of hand-sewn Humpty Dumpties

Made of lacquered papier mache

and the sweet story of a Jacques and Marie escaping to the the beach on a hot July day in Paris

A little research reveals that Right Time made a few different hammer toys

The woven detail is executed in what looks to be raffia

French Soldiers and Sailors Painted Wooden Skittle Set bird in cage I've looked at a fairI have a weakness for old figurative skittles or nine pins, and hard to beat a set of nine that includes both soldiers AND sailors! I'm not entirely sure if they were a combined set to begin with or came together at some later point, but I am pretty certain they are French, and 1940s at the latest. The outfits and colors are great, and I especially love the facial expressions, with eyes all looking in one direction, as if toward a rolling ball coming