Late 19th/Early 20th Century Gold Plated Silver Foil Italian Mask Ex Voto / Milagro figural bobbin lace " was the motto

" was the motto

facing off with cocks in hand--and with the shadow of what looks to be a woman in skirt hovering over them

and there are also a fair number of unfilled holes

The blocks were hand cut (well off square) then hand-painted in a similar manner to color cubes but with letters on one or two sides on some (not all) of them

Late 19th/Early 20th Century Gold Plated Silver Foil Italian Mask Ex Voto / Milagro figural bobbin lace " was the mottoSuch a beauty! I found this and the other milagro I'm listing at an estate sale in Saratoga, NY, where it lived in the collection of a peace corps worker and world traveller that, fittingly, included an abundance of carved masks. Late 19th very early 20th century and Italian, I believe, make of what looks like silver foil with a gold finish on the face of it. To my eye just a gorgeous thing, made all the more special by a signature on reverse