What Are These Things? (19 pics)

1

"It’s a check protector.

You pinch and roll over the number you wrote in so the check recipient can’t modify the amount. Here’s the patent."

A carved wooden stick with a little felt indentation on one side:

2

"It's a bottle opener."

This thick, red slab that's buried in the yard of a Victorian terrace house:

3

"Looks like either an old water trough or Belfast sink."

A tiny ceramic figurine that was found in Cape Cod, Massachusetts:

4

"Likely a 'Frozen Charlotte' doll. There were a wide variety of designs; do a Google image search for that term and you'll see."

This black, plastic-like item with the word "soft" on it found in a park:

5

"Looks like charcoal pencils."

A tiny metal clamp that contains a knurled roller on one end:

These two large, metal fixtures with decorative tops:

6

"Fire dogs, or andirons."

This spring-loaded, reverse-pliers-like tool:

7

"That is a shrimp peeler."

This metal tube with a vented cap that was purchased at a flea market:

8

"Travel toothbrush holder from the 1980s. I have the same one."

This set of wooden sticks with tiny figurines:

9

"Tic-Tac-Toe?"

This metal and plastic spoon-like tool:

10

"Hammer capper for beer bottles. First time I've seen something like that."

This heavy piece of limestone with some coin and seal stamps on top:

11

"Looks like a lithography stone."

This silver, palm-sized container with a hinged lid:

12

"It’s a snuff tin."

These levers on every floor of the stairwell of a tenement building in Edinburgh, Scotland:

13

"It's a lever to open the front door. These were used in many Victorian tenements."

A cap that was found in the basement of a deceased electrical engineer:

14

"I can share a little more. It appears to be a snatch-release connector, which is often used to safely break away from one piece of equipment to another piece of equipment/ordnance. The aluminium cap is protective to keep the contacts inside free of FOD [Foreign Object Damage] before mating. As someone else posted, it’s for training. Lastly, it’s cadmium (over nickel) plated, so it's best to wash your hands before eating."

This thin metal tool with a burnt loop on one end:

15

"It's an inoculation loop! I've used this in the lab at university, you're right about the burning. You hold the looped end over a burner until it glows, sterilizing it. Then I used it to transfer bacteria and make swatches of them on agar. You can burn it to sterilize it again afterwards."

This tiny metal tag with engraved numbers found in West Virginia:

16

"Each miner would 'tag in' and 'tag out' when entering and exiting the mine. That way, there was a way of identifying who was in the mine in case of a cave-in."

This rusty iron wedge found three-feet underground:

17

"It's a plowshare [cutting blade] from a plow."

The little post sitting on the brace between the legs of this chair:

18

"Back when I was a wee one, my grandparents would take me to church with them. Our church had that same style seating, and Grandpa would take off his hat, sit down on the chair, and put his hat on the shelf with the peg by sliding it between his legs once he was seated."

And finally, this cast iron pan with spikes found in Western Tasmania: