I love an antique school slate, and even more one that bears the traces of a prior owner, and of course I'm drawn like a magnet to things relating to language, especially when self-descriptive. On one side of this one, etched into the slate, is "SLATE" itself, handwritten in capital serif lettering, which sure looks to me as if written in the 19th century based on the manner of the lettering.  Perhaps the child who wrote it imagined with great foresight a time when a slate would be a very foreign thing, so here the slate arrives in the 21st century to identify itself to us! I very much love this thought.

10 1/2" x 7 1/2" and in very good antique condition, sturdy and sound and nicely aged.