Hausa Qur'anic & Fortune Teller's Board

Board with a crack down its shoulder still holds every line of its writing.

This Qur'anic and fortune teller's board is Hausa, from West Africa, and dates to the late 19th or early 20th century. It is wood & ink. Ink for such boards is typically made from soot or plant material mixed with a binder, and the pen is cut from a reed or a similar stem. Broad board with a short handle at the top and a gently curved base. Thick dark ink script fills the face in tight rows, and a fine vertical crack runs from the handle down the upper part. The surface looks pale and dry. It is 10 inches wide, 0.75 deep and 19.5 high.

Cracked at the shoulders, completely legible in spirit.