Shaw + Nodder 1792 Ambystoma Mexicanum (Mole Salamander) Hand-Colored Copper Engraving seated hermes with black pieces occupying squares

with  black pieces occupying squares 1 to 12

Paper folded in half into a booklet of sorts (as shown): 8 1/4" x 6 3/4"

What I especially like about this whimsy chain

Measurements: 13" across at lip

which included many fine antiques

Shaw + Nodder 1792 Ambystoma Mexicanum (Mole Salamander) Hand-Colored Copper Engraving seated hermes with black pieces occupying squaresThis is a striking and wonderfully surreal looking hand colored Shaw and Nodder copper engraving of a Mole Salamader, or Ambystoma Mexicanum, dated 1792. Recently, I found a couple of Shaw and Nodder engravings that had been enhanced with additional watercoloring and annotation by a holder of them in the first half of the 19th century; that is not the case here, but those heightened my awareness of them, and then I found this one in Vermont this week.