Black Paper Cutter with a Chess Piece Bishop Head as a decorative element at the crown

Fine. Measuring about 21 cm tall. Entirely black, and the material is wood. We don't know when this was made, but 1920 is our best surmise. By the 1930s most books were sold with the pages pre-cut. The early twentieth century was a transitional period, though, when it was still not unusual to encounter books with uncut pages. To cut the pages, a knife with somewhat smooth, rounded, dull edges were used, as anything else would have led to an inordinate amount of collateral damage. (Inventory #: 006716)