Ships, Folk Art, and Whimsey in Bottles

This is a carved chain and ball in cage whimsey built in an old decanter. The carving is made from natural wood. The bottom of the whimsey is carved in a cone shape approximately 4" long and is suspended approximately 3/4" from the bottom of the bottle. On the end of the cone is a carved half chain link. Carved from the same piece of wood is a whole chain link that is connected to another half link that is on the bottom of a wooden stopper. The entire carving not counting the top outside the bottle is approximately 8" long. The wooden stopper had a cross arm made from wood and painted gold that makes the stopper impossible to pull out of the bottle. There is a visible white cord with a knot on the exposed end that goes through the stopper and into the cross arm. On the outside of the bottle, there is a large 2 1/2" x 2" carved top. The entire top is carved from a single piece of wood. The bottom is a checker piece like shape approximately 2" x 1/5". Above this shape is a round ball and cage carving approximately 2" x 2." This round cage has eight openings; four on the bottom half and 4 on the top half to form the cage. Inside the cage is a round ball approximately 1 1/4" in diameter. The ball and the inside of the cage is painted gold. The decanter is four sided and tapers in towards the bottom. The is a "V" shape molded into the glass on each of the four sides.