These 16 Unusual Items Were Total Mysteries — Until The Internet Solved Them (2024)

"It's a casting positive. They would use it to create a negative mold in sand, which metal would then be poured into."

—u/SignificantDrawer374

"It's aJute or Twinesewing needle."

— u/isabelladangelo

"The bend makes it so much easier. The wide point gives more space for the thread to pass through the hole made by the needle."

— u/DrachenDad

"An antiquebike reflector.This has a faceted face, but you can find smooth versions that match yours by searching for antique glass bike reflectors."

— u/NoBananaBadMonkey

"Looks like one of these. In Dutch, it’s called kroonsteentje, but I don’t know what it’s called in English. It has something to do with electrical wiring."

— u/Extraordi-Mary

"''Terminal block' in English."

— u/basuramang

"Fun fact: ceramicterminals are designed to withstand fire and other high heat sources. Imagine a boat being on fire but just continuing to its location. That's what they're supposed to do!"

— u/-bobs

"That is astone axe head. A forked wooden handle would have slotted into the groove and then been lashed into place."

— u/discardedlife1845

It would be "lashed with wet hide — it shrinks and turns into a semi-rigid mass with enormous tensile strength."

— u/jeffersonairmattress

"FB Minden might stand for"Feuerbestattung" Minden- Minden crematory. I think you stumbled over a chamotte marker from a crematory that was used to track the identity of a body as it turned to ashes and was buried at sea."

— u/ParaspriteHugger

The original poster, u/tinaa26, replied back, "Thank you. I was assuming it might be something like that when I Googled it. I will put it back in the sea."

"It looks like a swing arm for holding pots over a fire. Sometimes called a fireplace crane.

It would be held by two loops built into the side of the fireplace and can swivel over and away."

— u/brentspar

"It originally clipped onto a lipstick tube."

— u/nitro479

Then the original poster, u/RIPTrixYogurt, replied back, "Solved!Looks like it is specifically the 'Looky Lipstick Mirror' from the '50s, that was quick. Thanks!"

"Old batteries."

— u/GitEmSteveDave

"Those are tongs that have just been straightened. It may be used for sugar cubes or bread rolls. The ends look like they could follow a silver tableware set motif."

— u/saurus-REXicon

"Yup. Someone flattened them out. We had a similar pair that had gone through a disposal and were curled up like a wood shaving. Sugar cube tongs, to be specific. Google vintage silver sugar tongs."

— u/one_is_enough

That's an "aerator blade for renovating pastures. Source: I used a tool with two rows of these for a few seasons."

— u/BuffaloOk7264

"The metal box is called 'Weihwasserkessel' in German, roughly translated as 'holy water kettle' in English. It is for storing holy water, and the brush is for dispensing it on the grave. It is very common in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Maybe other places, too, but I haven't been to graveyards in other countries."

— u/NickTheSmasherMcGurk

"It's a 'nurse's' pocket...Essentially, it’s a loophole for manufacturers to bring costs down.

If garments have 'pockets below the waist, a ribbed waistband or other means of tightening at the bottom of the garment,' they get excluded from specific categories. So if you took that same type of blouse with a 26.9% duty rate and added a pocket or two below the waist, it would instead get tariffed at a rate of 16%."

— u/wheyyyyyyytt

"It's a vintage 1978 Power Scrubber, as seen in Ghostbusters."

— u/TWFM

"That's atelescopic cigarette holder."

— u/chase1420