1920s Wooden Inkwell Stand

I recently purchased this wooden inkwell stand at a thrift store. The paper on the back is in German; my native speaking German friend could only read Frankfurt and the names and date. Kallermann is also stamped on the back of the stand. The texture of the wood is unusual; it almost resembles leather in places. Also unusual is that there is only one ink well; the box on the other side is detached wood, without a lid. It almost looks like someone carved an exact duplicate of the ink well on the left hand side. It fits perfectly in the square hole.

 

Yeah, I don't know why I typed Kaffermann. I meant Kallermann. I did a web search for Paul Kallerman, but I wasn't able to find anyone in Frankfurt. Maybe his shop was a small one, so there is no record.

 

Is that a corncob doing chin-ups?

(Really, really can't help.)

I think the second line just says August 1920, but I can't make out what comes before or after.

Frankfurt was heavily bombed (day and night) in October 1943, so maybe the note came about because of that.

 

Lol, it's an interesting pattern. I thought it might be a bug like a cicada, but I couldn't tell.

That's a good idea. I wondered if the note was actually from the 20s. The paper is old, but I wasn't sure.

 

Looks like a butterfly to me.

Yes it says "im August 1920" in august 1920, then there is something like "in fam? froh? arbeit Paul Kallerman", in ... work Paul Kallerman.
Below that could be Frankfurterstraße 43, Frankfurtstreet 43, just an address without the town.

 

It does look like a butterfly. Now I see that the pattern could be wings...

With the f word, what I originally thought was a h appears to be part of the g in August. I just can't figure out what the actual word is.

It didn't occur to me that it might be a street name. Hmm. I wonder if the words below Paul Kallermann could be a city. The first letter looks like the lowercase "f" in Frankfurt, but it should be uppercase if it's a noun. I don't think it's an F.

 

What I find really strange is the second "ink well". It looks like it was carved from the same wood as the first box. The graining is even the same. But it isn't an actual ink well, just a block of solid wood.

 

The "f" = h? the letter after g = e?

Hagen, Germany?

If not, perhaps the German script might help you decipher.

 

Thanks!
Hagen makes sense! I purchased this in Dortmund, which is also in NRW.

 

good beer in Dortmund !
I see two human figures.....with helmets..

 

Definitely! And foot ball, if you like that.

I see them too. Haha. I wonder what the carver originally intended.

 

So, there is a Frankfurterstrasse 43 in Hagen, but it's a shisha place now. Just wish I could find out more about this.