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Butter print
Hand carved sycamore butter print from Builth area, mid Wales.
Butter prints were used to stamp butter ready for the market. The craft of carving the prints was common to many countries, but canoe-shaped prints are unique to Wales. The most popular designs were hearts, geometrical shapes, and patterns of lines spreading out from the centre of a circle. From about 1850 to 1900, roses, strawberries, cows, acorns, and pineapples were fashionable designs.
Double-face, twin circular prints with central flat handle; both print faces have Celtic cross motif with fan between arms. Reserve side of prints decorated with Celtic cross in circle and the other with concave-sided rectangle in circle of double zig-zag triangles.