Hold this shamrock up to the light and Ireland looks back. Hand-carved from green Connemara marble, the three-leaf clover hides a stanhope in its center: a tiny magnifying lens with a microphotograph mounted behind it. Put it to your eye and a captioned view of a Waterford cathedral appears.
Stanhopes were the travel souvenir of the late 1800s and early 1900s, built into charms, pens, and needle cases so visitors could carry a picture of the place they'd been. This one pairs the idea with Connemara marble, the swirling green serpentine quarried in the west of Ireland. Each leaf has a carved center vein, and a drilled hole at the top leaf lets it hang from a jump ring or bail.
Connemara marble with a stanhope lens. In good antique condition. The marble shows small surface pits and tool marks consistent with hand carving and age, and the stanhope image is clear and readable.
