Japanese Hand-painted Treen Nesting Eggs Set with Butterfly, c. 1920s 50 ft measuring tape Mantia Bos: 4 5/8” x

Mantia Bos: 4 5/8” x 3 1/8”

I am not certain the date on this--it seems Bluteau was still actively making and selling throughout the first decade of the 2000s

and are a bit unusual in featuring both dots and numbers both

the closest I've found (and which I'd guess this in fact is) was made by Ferdinand Strauss

I've had one other carved and hinged folk art crocodile head along the lines of this one

Japanese Hand-painted Treen Nesting Eggs Set with Butterfly, c. 1920s 50 ft measuring tape Mantia Bos: 4 5/8” xI've had just a couple of sets of Japanese wooden nesting eggs before and, as with treen apples, also made in Japan and to which they are close kin, I always keep an eye out for them, though they are rarer than apples to find. C. 1920s I believe, with the shells of each egg progressively thinner as they get smaller; rare to find a set of these with all of the eggs in tact! (And indeed, one half of the smallest here was found taped together so I