35 Times People Stumbled Upon Something Old But Had No Clue What They Were Looking At, And The Internet Had Their Back
I have always enjoyed the mystique surrounding antiques. There's something enthralling about an object that has stood the test of time. It's not just a product. It has a story. A personality. And if you're also captivated by them, then look no further, for we bring you a subreddit that celebrates the wonders of bygone eras.
Welcome to r/WhatIsThisThing, a thriving community of 2.3 million internet detectives who gather to identify whatever things people submit to them.
Established in 2010, r/WhatIsThisThing has become a true gem on the platform, ranking in the top 1% based on its impressive size. From intricate Victorian-era trinkets to beautifully crafted Art Nouveau relics, let's take a look at some of the gorgeous stuff it has seen.
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A Scissors Like Device I Bought Years Ago On Flee Market
Answer: It’s a vintage umbilical clamp. That’s why it’s shaped like a stork! Eventually this style did evolve into several types of embroidery scissors that the midwives would use while awaiting labor.
I HAVE THE SEWING SCISSORS OF THEM OMFG I NEVER REALISED THERE WERE UMBILICAL CLAMP ONES
Landlord Found It In The Basement. Heavy Metal. Google Isn't Responding Well To "Scary Wand" Or "Aggressive Pleasure Instrument"
Answer: Soldering iron. The end you are holding is the head, and is usually copper. The other end would normally have a wood handle.
Metal And Glass Locket With Writing
Answer: It's called a "theca" and it has relics from saints in it. If it can be confirmed authentic, it's very valuable. Each one of those relics is hundreds of dollars, each.
lisabrr's answer:
Saint reliquary made up of bone shards that supposedly belonged to said saints.
Friend Received This Passed Down From His Great Great Grandfather. It’s Believed To Be From Persia & About 2,000 Years Old
Answer: It’s a hairpin or a clothes pin/brooch. If it’s something 2000 years old, you need to see a professional at a museum/institute of archaeology to get it evaluated AND then get it insured.
Ok, I Know It’s A Chair, But What’s With The Extended Arms?
Answer: It looks like a plantation/planters chair. You’d put your sore swollen legs up on the arms after sitting on a horse all day, like a pregnant woman with her legs up in the same fashion. This is why the back is so sloped as well. If you sit up straight it wouldn’t be comfortable to put your legs up like that, but in a reclined position it’s good for blood flow and air flow.
Glass Bulb, Filled With Liquid, Metal Disk Floating Inside
Answer: Fire Extinguisher. Beware contains Carbon Tetratchloride.
Carbon Tet is one nasty chemical. It works as an oxygen scavenger. The bulb explodes and consumes all the oxygen in the room starving the fire. Of course if it breaks and there is no fire it will asphyxiate anyone in the room too. Very dangerous stuff. It also used to be used in dry cleaning. It's right up there with asbestos and tetra-ethyl-lead in the long list of dangerous chemicals our ancestors used every day.
Found In A Creek Bed In Oak Hill, Texas. Has A Small Hole On Top Of The Head That Goes All The Way Through
Answer: "Seems to be a pendent head from the Caddo tribe. Looks legit and definitely pre-columbian. There's an oak hill Caddo site near there. Could be an import as well but unlikely." -My Archeologist Father
It’s that unaired Brady Bunch episode that didn’t end with one of the boys winning a surfing contest. And yep, I’m old.
Found In My Backyard In East Nashville, Tn
Answer: Looks real for sure! It's a decent fit for Hopewell type points from about 2000 years ago, but a local expert would certainly know more. If it's found in your yard it's definitely yours and nobody would take it if you reported it, and I'm sure your state archaeologist or archaeological society would be happy to tell you more and make a record of where you found it!
Native American tool for poking holes in the English. Sometimes there are bones nearby
Help Identify What These Are And What They Were Used For? Passed Down By Family - UK
Answer: Cover plates for a book. They are generally riveted over the normal cover. Probably for one involving royalty or heraldry from the engraving.
Witt: Silver-Handled Vintage/Antique Clamp Of Some Kind. "Beak" Of Clamp Is Hollow - So Not Umbilical. Clamp Does Not Open Wide Because. US Quarter For Scale
Answer: That looks like a glove stretcher. To loosen up the fingers in leather gloves.
I Think Brass Man, Head Comes Off And Backpack Opens
Answer: Definitely looks like tobacco paraphernalia. My father-in-law has a huge collection of tobacco jars, pipe stands, and the like, and many of them share similarities with this.
Matches would be kept in the backpack, the head used to tamp tobacco down into the pipe, and the walking stick used to clean out the pipe.
Found At A Used Book Store. All Parts Rotate And The Markings/Months Makes Me Think It Could Be For Mapping?
Answer: An astrolabe, the ancient times GPS. Used usually for navigation, also for time measure and other science uses. I got one similar as a keyring.
If it's too small It won't be easy to use, by my experience.
Antique From The 1800’s, Have To Figure Out What It Is For A School Project
Answer: Antique Soap Saver. Small scraps of soap were put in the cage and when people did dishes by hand the soap saver was swished though the dishwater to made suds
I Found This Under The Floor Boards In A 1800's Era House
Answer: It removed the top of soft boiled eggs.
If strechted smaller it could also remove the top off cheating husbands…
I find it fascinating that someone had an innovation, created the design, got a patent, and set up a manufacturing facility for a device with only one job that can be accomplished with the utensils already at your setting.
I thought they were some sort of like torture handcuffs, very mild next to what you guys are mentioning 😅
Totally thought it was a… male chicken… ring. (Phrased like this to get past BP censors)
I see many people loving the idea of using this to mutilate a man's genitals. For thousands of years women have been subjected to mutilation of their sex organs in almost ever country just so they cannot enjoy sex. Is this really what modern civilization is wishing to promote. Stop cheering on stupidity and violence.
I thought it was some kind of antique sexual torture device. Why keep an egg topper under your floorboards??? That's not something I would hide.
I like the little chain to stop it from opening too far, although I imagine it could still be used for chopping...other things.
dear lord, i was scared it was some sort of child torturing device. how did my brain just go there? #facepalm
Looks like something they had on a Futurama episode…from the Probinator or one of the “booths…”
It's an egg topper. I bought a more modern one because I like soft boiled eggs now and then. I think this one might work better than the one I got.
It's Made Of Really Heavy Hardwood. Unsure Of The Age Unfortunately. Given By Family Friend. Thanks
Answer: It's half a Viking chair
This Thing That My Friend Found In The Water
Answer: "This is a figure of the Santerian Orisha Olokun. One hand holds a snake, the other a mask. They typically come off because these figures are kept in water 100% of the time. If you found this in the ocean, then this is more evidence towards that as Olokun is tied to the ocean. This was probably disposed of ritualistically and replaced with a new one.
Blue Glass Thing Found At Goodwill. About 5 Inches High With A Hole In Top
Answer: That is a whale oil lamp. Hand blown glass. Very odd blue color. Not cheap
Not gonna lie I thought it was used for something very different lol 🤣🤣🤣🤣
For Context: It's In A Dentists Office
Answer: A very old dental drill.
My Grandfather Told Us To Not Remove This When Renovating
Answer: Aztec calendar. Funny thing, I remember a bunch of these a while ago being smuggled over the border and they were made of meth
Found In A Garden. Metallic Object That Closes In On Itself
Answer: a Hindu ritual box. It is missing the middle piece that would sit in that central hole.
Found Metal Detecting Outside Of An Old Church
Answer: It looks like a Ferrotype photograph. They started being used in the 1850s's.
Please do not metal detect at historic sites. Removing artifacts without properly documenting destroys a significant amount of historical information that can never be regained. Even if you have permission to be on the property, it is still much better to not do this unlesss you are a trained archaeologist.
Found At Antique Festival Near Atlanta, Is 17" By 5.5"
Answer: It's for rolling newspapers into a "log" for the fireplace
Found At An Antique Market In Wisconsin USA. About 6" Across The Top, The Hole Is About 3.5". Tiny Spittoon?!
Answer: Child’s potty, a chamber pot.
What Is This Red Leather Devil Figure, Found In A Wooden Box In An Attic?
Answer: It’s called a Jenny Haniver. They’re dried skates or rays modified to look like monsters.
Found In A Garden Back In 1959, Still Haven't Been Able To Identify What It Is
Answer: It's a broche or pin featuring Napoleon.
I didn't scroll far enough and only saw the euro. I assumed it was a joke post. Am legit an idiot...
Driftwood With Metal Plaque Found On The Mississippi River Bank
Answer: Looks like a piece from a bedhead. I think the sheath of wheat is a xtian symbol about reaping what you sow and of death and renewal. Something along those lines. Wheat has been used on double (marital) beds for centuries, including the bedhead and upright posts. They're also used on chairs in a literal or a stylised way and represent prosperity in relation to the 'reap what you sow' type of symbolism.
A sheaf of grain on a bed would probrably be a fertility symbol, and be carved into the wood. This a) doesn't really look like wheat because the small heads have too few grains, and b) there's nothing to suggest the wood came from a bed rather than any other wood object.
What Is This Thing? Hanging Over Sink In A House Built In The Late 1800s
Answer: It’s a holder for a glass. There used to be small cylindrical glasses that everyone had near their sinks to grab a sip of water. Which was an improvement from drinking out of a wooden cup from a bucket or a ladle.
Those claw holders are often in housekeeping sinks in the area where the maids worked, or by the grooms' area.
Everyone used the same cup/glass.
Found This In An Old Crumbled House, But I Have No Clue As To What It May Be! It's From A Company Called « Rally »... Help Me On This Mission!!!
Answer: The device is being described as a "razor hone", i.e., something for sharpening single-edge razor blades
Carved Piece Purchased From An Antique Shop In Poland. What Is It And What Could It Be Carved Out Of?
Answer: Rib bone from a whale. In the 2nd pic, you can see the soft marrow tissue inside, you wouldn’t find that inside of a tusk.
Found These Glass Goggles In The Wall Of Our 100 Year Old Home
Answer: old safety goggles with the strap missing. Possibly for brazing work on the plumbing
My Grandpa Dug Up This Roman Cameo Looking Thing In His Garden In Northern Italy 12 Or So Years Ago, Any Idea What It Could Be? More Info In Comments
Answer: It looks exactly like the souvenir intaglios that Victorians collected on their European Grand Tours. They were very very popular and usually kept in a set and framed.
A Fish Like Object Found In A River
Answer: Gobeunok or Gogok are comma-shaped or curved beads and jewels.
Found In The Woods Near The Water’s Edge At My Home In Maryland On The Chesapeake Bay, The Site Of A Shipyard From 1750-1800. The Property Has Documented History Back To 1650’s. It Has Raised Decorative Images On Both Sides And Is Made Of Metal. 1 Image Also Shows A 1906 Indian Head Penny For Scale
Answer: It's a smallsword guard
I Was Given This. I Have No Idea What It Is. Metal Square Box
Answer: Portable ashtray
I had one that i bought. It was a portable ashtray. Mine was a bit fancier. It had a spring loaded rest so when you opened the box it popped out to hold your cigarette.
Strange Object From Tiffany's Mysteriously Given To My Wife By Her Grandmother While Refusing To Say What It Was. Probably Bought In The 1930s Or 1940s. About 10cm/4" Long. All She'd Say Was "She Used It As A Young Woman But Didn't Have Much Use For It Nowadays". Any Ideas?
Answer: Tree Branch Muddler
Note: this post originally had 76 images. It’s been shortened to the top 35 images based on user votes.
Here's one from four years ago that I don't believe ever got solved. Lots of speculation though. https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/adped1/what_is_it_some_kind_of_tool_or_something/?sort=new
Imagine being the first archaeologist to come across some of this stuff...
Here's one from four years ago that I don't believe ever got solved. Lots of speculation though. https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/adped1/what_is_it_some_kind_of_tool_or_something/?sort=new
Imagine being the first archaeologist to come across some of this stuff...
