Antique Shield with (Satisfyingly Loud!) Gavel Knocker in Best Yellow Paint art supplies and a painting

and a painting

I need to double check dimensions but about 5 inches tall

black laquered paper mâché (such as that one finds antique snuff boxes made of) surface

United States

as all were important figures in the ceramics community of Nova Scotia during the second half of the 20th century

Antique Shield with (Satisfyingly Loud!) Gavel Knocker in Best Yellow Paint art supplies and a paintingI believe this wooden shield with gavel knocker is likely fraternal looks to me like a gothic "C" (maybe combined with two horizontal strokes of an F?) painted in silver against that old best yellow paint. Perhaps the gavel was struck to call meetings to order, or perhaps the shield hung on the outside of the door to the inner sanctum, where all secrets would be revealed. Who knows? What I do know is that the wooden gavel, suspended from a bent strip