Antique Chromolithograph English Die Cuts Scrap Ballgown Ladies

Please note that this is real, full size antique scrap, not a miniature.

20 years ago my grandfather gave me these exquisite chromolithograph die cut scrap pictures he'd kept in his cellar since the 1920's and 1930's.

My grandfather was a candy maker and bought these embossed scrap pictures to use inside panorama Easter eggs. He gave me the ones he still had left. He told me that after the war, these pictures became impossible to find because all of the factories had been bombed during WW II.

If you've never seen a panorama Easter Egg, it was an egg, made of sugar or chocolate that was hollow. A round hole was left in one end and covered with plastic or glass - if you looked inside the egg, you saw a beautiful scene that looked 3-D filled with pictures of flowers and children playing and all sorts of things!

The scrap pictures themselves are absolutely exquisite. This sheet has a dozen English ladies all together - six different ones.

I've been trying to figure out what era the costumes are - my best guess is Baroque or Colonial . The scrap has a glossy finish and wonderful embossing as well as brilliant colors.

Each lady is wearing an elaborate white, powdered wig dressed in curls and is dressed in an elegant ball gown just waiting for her beau to come in the carriage to go to the ball. They're carrying floral bouquets, fans, primping, and one even has a domino mask - she must be going to a costume ball!

These are pretty enough to be framed if you're not an ephemera collector or would make absolutely adorable and unique paper dolls !

The sheet measures 9 1/2" x 6 1/4" and each lady is about 3" high x 2" wide at the bottom of her ruffled gown. This sheet was imported from England. It's marked MLP printed in black inside an oval as the company name and is also marked with the #931.