Antique School Slate with SLATE Etched In mourning Great color and surface

Great color and surface

As they were done as a pair

dating to the 15th century I believe

and the repeating motif of what appear to be smiling little faces (maybe offspring

I can't figure out anything this could be other than a branding iron

Antique School Slate with SLATE Etched In mourning Great color and surfaceI love an antique school slate, and even more one that bears the traces of a prior owner, and of course I'm drawn like a magnet to things relating to language, especially when self descriptive. On one side of this one, etched into the slate, is "SLATE" itself, handwritten in capital serif lettering, which sure looks to me as if written in the 19th century based on the manner of the lettering. Perhaps the child who wrote it imagined with great