What is this??

delle · Post by **delle** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 2:41 pm

(and that's a

that comes from my guy maybe being the first to test it. He was Very Interested in this shoe-buying technique, and wondered why we've never employed it)

Just seems we wouldn't get very far without having to stop......

gaminwench · Post by **gaminwench** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 3:28 pm

Okay, I'll play...

My roomie brought this home from an estate sale, and has had no luck identifying its purpose...

Anyone??

The pix:

Center "ball": 3" diameter

Image 3.jpg

Cups: one with interior spike; one with exterior hole

Image 6.jpg Assembly: Both cups fitted closed, ball inside

Image 12.jpg

Post by **Eric** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 3:44 pm

delle wrote:Melt test is a bust for this morning. I'll have to try again later. Heated the pin to red-hot, but it's not melting.

It's definitely not amber then. Amber is basically really hard tree-sap, it will burn with a match, and a hot pin would go into either amber or a plastic resin. If it's not melting, it's some other substance, possibly coral (see below).

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 4:19 pm

try getting those pics smaller, GW!!

delle · Post by **delle** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 4:45 pm

No need, GW.

Aspic mold????

delle · Post by **delle** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 4:48 pm

Double post.

The shame!!!

Trishntek · Post by **Trishntek** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 4:59 pm

FIGJAM wrote:
Trishntek wrote:Adding corn sheller to my want-list for my toy box

You can have mine!

I'll bring it to you on playa.

YAY! YIPPEE! HORRAY!!
Thanks Figgy!!!
SMOOOOOOTCH!

delle · Post by **delle** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 5:00 pm

The beads are definitely not coral. They're too consistently coloured.

Still can't get them to melt tho either.
And not glass, I wouldn't think. Tho obviously polished, they've no shine. (tho the sound if you tap two together is reminiscent of bollys - those large marbles we used to play with when out of conkers season)

They're neither heavy nor particularly light
Very hard... I've yet been able to scratch one (tho I haven't tried overly hard)
Seem much more opaque than the resin I've seen today

So, huh. I just don't know....

For Fishy: http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk ... nkers.html

It's freaking British. Who knew????

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 5:15 pm

delle wrote:No need, GW.

Aspic mold????

I suppose with that spike, it could be an ass pic?

delle · Post by **delle** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 5:40 pm

....thus completing Tec's new toy collection????

maryanimal · Post by **maryanimal** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 5:47 pm

delle wrote:Melt test is a bust for this morning. I'll have to try again later. Heated the pin to red-hot, but it's not melting.

And I know now without a doubt the answer to "what was I thinking". Although on any type of closer-than-across-the-room inspection they are definitely not chestnuts, some emotional part of my brain just clicked on that concept and wouldn't let it go -- no matter how often I've held this thing in my hands and caressed them.

Strange, but...

When we were kids in Montreal, we lived near a park that had slews of chestnut trees. Conkers was a favorite game. When a scourge came through and killed them all, some part of me was lost. I guess what happened was that thinking that they were chestnuts soothed a part of that loss, and gave me a little touchstone to a more innocent time.

Funny how the brain works sometimes.......

We have a lot of Horse chestnut trees around here, and since they bear their fruit in the fall, I'll make you some conkers and mail them to you!

delle · Post by **delle** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 6:10 pm

Ooooooooooooooh!!!

I'd love that, MA. Truly.

We will definitely have to try and remember that come fall.

Thank you!!!

Drawingablank · Post by **Drawingablank** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 6:14 pm

At first glance it looks like some sort of old cannon ball that has been underwatwer for a long time. Probably civil war era and most likely anti personnel.

On second glance I'm guessing that its one of those flame pots they used to put out for roadwork back before they switched to battery warning lights (that has also spent much time underwater).

gaminwench wrote:Okay, I'll play...

My roomie brought this home from an estate sale, and has had no luck identifying its purpose...

Anyone??

The pix:

Center "ball": 3" diameter
Image 3.jpg
Cups: one with interior spike; one with exterior hole
Image 6.jpg Assembly: Both cups fitted closed, ball inside
Image 12.jpg

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:29 pm

delle wrote:And not glass, I wouldn't think.

My (down and dirty, and not for the germophobe) test for glass and stone is to put the bead to my lips. If it's cold, then it's likely glass or stone.
If it doesn't burn, then it's probably not organic in origin... bone would burn. (Not that it looks like bone...)

Dilithium crystals?

TomServo · Post by **TomServo** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 8:09 pm

Drawingablank wrote:On second glance I'm guessing that its one of those flame pots they used to put out for roadwork back before they switched to battery warning lights (that has also spent much time underwater).

The Toledo Torch. Metal's too thick and would not have that spike thingy, also..too small.... it could be a super old torch that I've never seen.

I'm gonna have to say grenade again.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 8:37 pm

"grenade again"

Well, that was disappointing. I thought the sparkleponies would take me on a wild ride...

and now I"m gumming up a very good thread with my weirdness.

gaminwench · Post by **gaminwench** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 9:37 pm

OK. I'm GW's roomie, the guy with the strange ball-spike-cups thingy. The cups and ball together weigh 6 lbs. When the ball is in the bottom cup (on the spike that fits inside the hole in the ball: start your innuendo engines!), the ball will free-float on said spike (but not very well, as the ball is not truly spherical). The entire assembly is about the size--maybe just a tad smaller--than a regulation softball. Also: it's difficult to tell from the pix, but there's a kind of decorative pattern on the outsides of the cups--a sort of cross-hatching that I first took to be hammer-strike marks but I know consider to be too regular and well-spaced for that. In any case, it's definitely NOT a cannonball, nor and ass-pick mold. I've consulted with a Civil War expert, and he said it's not a cannonball of that era. (BTW: He's apparently asking another expert what he thinks, but hasn't gotten back to me yet.) So, there you have it: still wondering what this is...

gaminwench · Post by **gaminwench** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 9:43 pm

...And did I mention the slag? Yep, there's slag around the hole on the upper cup, as well as some slag splattered on the seam where the cups fit together. Go figure.

Drawingablank · Post by **Drawingablank** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 6:51 am

I'm still leaning towards an explosive device of some kind - perhaps a primitive land mine. The pin seems to be a firing pin and the hole could be for a plunger to push the inner ball containing a primer onto the pin.

Although the first reference I could find is a civil war land torpedo (very similar, but not the same thing), mines date back to ancient china so this could pre date the civil war. http://www.blog4history.com/2010/06/civ ... a-torpedo/

The photos are not all that different from some modern mines aside from crudeness of manufacture. For example this WWII Japanese mine:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... d_mine.JPG

Trishntek · Post by **Trishntek** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 7:33 am

Could it be some kind of grinding mill?,,, like milling grain?

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 7:45 am

delle wrote:

(and that's a that comes from my guy maybe being the first to test it. He was Very Interested in this shoe-buying technique, and wondered why we've never employed it)

Just seems we wouldn't get very far without having to stop......

What?

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 7:45 am

TomServo · Post by **TomServo** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 12:06 pm

It's a car

MyDearFriend · Post by **MyDearFriend** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 1:13 pm

TomServo wrote:It's a red car

Fixed that for ya.

TomServo · Post by **TomServo** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 1:19 pm

Ahh! Thank you!

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 1:38 pm

What it looks like when the mescaline wears off:

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 1:43 pm

BTW, here's the best "what is it" site on the internets.

An example (hint: it's not a Dubstep tuning fork) (and no peeking at the answers):

5280MeV · Post by **5280MeV** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 1:48 pm

jong-car.jpg

gaminwench · Post by **gaminwench** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 4:11 pm

Hmmmm...Well, I have to say DAB's suggestion that it's a Civil War "land torpedo" is quite compelling, but I really don't see how the mechanics would actually work in the space allowed; there's no room for the ball to sink down onto the pin--in fact, the ball rests gently upon that pin and free-pivots slightly on it; and there's really not much room at all between the walls of the cups and ball to insert gunpowder or explosives; the hole in the ball is fairly roomy by comparison, but I can;t imagine it holding more than a thimble's full of primer or powder or whatever. All that said, it DOES have the look and feel of being some sort of armament or weapon; certainly if one could actually get the ball and cups to explode, they'd cause considerable damage! And if this is designed to be thrown, then the pattern of indentation-marks around the outsides of the cups would certainly help a man grip the thing firmly as he lobs it at the enemy (tho how far he could actually throw a 6 lbs. iron ball is open to speculation).

Dang, I'd still really love to know what this infernal device is! Thanks for your ideas everyone! Keep 'em coming!

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 4:40 pm

Wild guess -- despite the shitty pics and that you don't say where you live or where the device was found -- it's about the right size for a Civil War era Napoleon cannonball, and could have held powder in the annular space so as to fragment the spherical shell on a crude delay fuse jammed in the hole. The solid interior ball may have been designed to carry a greater distance than if it had musket-sized ball shot inside.

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