Introducing Flip Top

By Marc Banks HLM538 and Art DelFavero HLM552

Nearly a decade and a half ago, my good friend Arturo DelFavero purchased a distinctive carving (#1 below) depicting a bearded man wearing a long brimmed hat with a flat topped crown. Shortly thereafter, a matching carving (#2) was listed on eBay and went unsold. The two carvings were posted in Bo Tales’ “Three’s A Match” in 2011, and again in 2019. It wasn’t until this December (2025) that I noticed and won a third match that appeared in an eBay auction.

This unknown artist very consistently repeated the major elements of each carving. While these diagnostic markers made it easy to identify the carvings as the work of the same person, trying to nickname the carver was somewhat more difficult. After giving it much thought, it occurred to me that the outlined, oval ear with inner detail created with two punch marks reminded me of the flip top on aluminum beverage cans. Without any further thought, I decided to nickname this unknown carver “Flip Top”. I know Arturo would be excited that the third match has been found.

The carving characteristics for "Flip Top" are as follows:

1. A distinctive oval-shaped ear with inner detail composed of two circular punch marks, one above the other. The top of the ear sits just under the brim of the hat. The front brim is positioned left of the L in LIBERTY on all three examples, slightly more on Examples 1 and 2
2. The hat brims are pointed at both ends and three dimensional at one or both ends on Examples 1 and 2. A narrow zigzag/wriggle-cut band decorated with a bow sits above the brim. The bow is positioned just behind the ear. The crown is flat at the top.
3. The hair, beard and eyebrow are punched. The beard is closely cropped and follows the jaw line. The lower lip is enhanced by the positioning of the beard.