Old Lufkin Wood and Brass 36 Inch Logging Rule unique puppet Frankfurt playing cards dating I

Frankfurt playing cards dating I believe to the very beginning of the 20th century (a very early deck with indices)

including for the fact that it looks quite a bit like our gentle

and "brilliant blue and green birds" at bottom right) suggest that this was a quick sketch in advance of a more finished drawings

1795 on the plate (and I've learned that Thomas Jefferson had a set with the exact same pattern) and the repair

With a Canadian Eskimo Art sticker on the bottom attesting to the authenticity of the piece as Inuit

Old Lufkin Wood and Brass 36 Inch Logging Rule unique puppet Frankfurt playing cards dating Iroduced by The Lufkin Rule Co., Saginaw, Michigan, as marked on one side of the brass end. (A lumber ruler is used to measure the board feet content of sawn lumber; this is a "four line" rule that has scales for 12' 10' 14' 16' on one side and 9' 11' 13' 15' on the other side.) I of course love it as an object, with satisfying rounded handle at one end, heavy brass wrap at the other with lens shaped end for grabbing, and just all those beautiful