'Wings

This "butterfly wing" tray (15" x 8") was a gift to my mother from her Uncle Ernest Hanle, my G'pa's brother. sometime in the mid '50's. Somewhere in South America is its origin. I keep this on a dresser top in my bedroom out of direct light, as I read somewhere that light is damaging to the fragile wings. A little mystery and intrigue surrounded this uncle. There was speculation that he was CIA. Family would not hear from him for months, even years at a time, then out of the blue, he would be there to visit. A briefcase disappeared from his hospital room when he died. To imagine that we had a real "007" spy or double agent in our ancestry has always been an exciting thought, but, as near as I can tell from a photo album and papers my mother had (now in Uncle Donald's possession), he was a career military nurse. This family snapshot taken on one of his rare visits, probably the one when he bestowed the gift to my mom, shows him in what appears to be a naval officer uniform. Could this have been his cover ? Mysteries of the past, lost and forever secret !