I found this little carving at Brimfield in July and wanted to enjoy it for a bit before parting with it. I really don't know where it came from or why it is shaped the way it is--at first I thought the lid of a carved box, but there is no sign there were ever hinges on it, just a small hole at the center of the bottom edge, which could have held a latch.  (Maybe it was originally carved it as a box lid but its maker decided it was just right as a stand along thing?!) In any case, a charming relief carving of a (Native American?) canoer in the sunshine on one side, with paddle in one hand and what I take for a spear in the other, and then under the moon a man (soldier?) with tricot sort of hat next to house and animals on the reverse. Seems to me a portrayal of two different ways /walks of life in a manner that makes them feel like flip sides of the same human coin.

4 1/4 x 2 1/2" x 3/8" and in very good condition. Earlyish 20th c. I believe.