This is a scarce one--an early "transparent slate," c. 1860s, used as a drawing teaching tool. (The man pictured is Charles Fremont, Senator from California, first Republican candidate for president in 1856, and best known as "the Pathfinder" for expeditions to open the West to settlers.) As per the instructions on the back of the frame, one was meant to place one of the included engravings in the frame, use a "fine pointed black lead pencil" to trace over every line of it directly onto the glass, then remove the back of the frame and picture, place a blank piece of paper inside (or place the glass against a white surface), and voila, what one traced was revealed! (And of course the student was then encouraged to go back and make corrections as necessary.) No box here, and it seems there were a few companies that produced examples of these, but this is definitely among the earliest and I can find no match for it. And I think the engravings themselves are terrific. An excellent addition to a collection of 19th century educational/drawing instruction materials, I'd say.

Frame 5 1/2" x 4 1/4". 11 engravings (10 pictured in first photo and one additional as documented) printed in black ink on very thin but sturdy paper. All in very good condition. I've used a couple of nails to secure the wood back of the frame to hold it tight against the glass; if one were using for tracing the nails would just have to be (easily) removed each time to change the picture, or one could tape it closed.