DARK ENGINE, Very Excellent Old Handcut Brass Stencil painted cubes which looks to me to

which looks to me to be splitting a piece of wood

19th century New England I believe with its original paint

6 3/4" tall x 5 " (leg to leg) x 4 1/4" from end of handle to bracket

and the black and brown border around the lid

I've only found a couple of example of full scale carved stone keystones of a related ilk to this one

DARK ENGINE, Very Excellent Old Handcut Brass Stencil painted cubes which looks to me toSix months ago or so, I found the counterpoint stencil to this one GOLDEN ENGINE in the Hudson River Valley; this week I returned to the same shop and found DARK ENGINE waiting for me! As before, the dealer noted that this had come from a prominent area collection, from which I guess they are doling out one stencil at a time. Before I imagined that Golden Engine had been used to stencil the hood or maybe the sides of a race car many years ago, and