Replies

1. 
   Eef | Jun 09, 2009 01:06am | #1

   hey 9,

   that looks to be a middle school woodshop project.  the butt joints and finish are familiar to me. (my day-job is as a shop teacher...)  no sign of it ever  having a bottom?  hmmm.

   eef

1. 
   9michael9 | Jun 09, 2009 01:15am | #2

   It has small curves in the sides and the large half circle in the front.  The sides at the bottom were just rough planed off for looks-ie you can't see a square empty bottom-very clever methinks.

2. 
   oldfred | Jun 09, 2009 02:45pm | #9

   Hey Eef

   Retired shop teacher here.  Agree that it looks like a school shop project (1940's - 60's maybe?), but I'm guessing it's not.   

    I'd guess it was specifically designed and made to hold something that would hang in those grooves in the tops of the side pieces.  One of a kind holder by a "Rube Goldberg" older wood worker / hobbiest.  Someone looking for things to make with a with a new scroll saw.

   "hmmm" is right.  :)

1. 
   Eef | Jun 09, 2009 06:01pm | #10

   fred,

   had that work come out of my class, i'd be ok with the scroll work, it's not bad at all!

   about a week and a half of school left.  a two month break is lookin' real good about now.  how many years did ya teach/what age group?

   eef

1. 
   oldfred | Jun 09, 2009 06:45pm | #11

    Eef,

   I would have been happy with it too - just a guess that it was designed by someone older  with a specific purpose.  

   Taught 33 yrs. HS and Jr H.,  most of it was Jr. H.    Great job.

2. 
   lwilliams | Jun 09, 2009 03:12am | #3

   It looks like a wooden match holder that makes an old match box the dispenser and was, most likely, a school woodworking project.

3. 
   USANigel | Jun 09, 2009 03:22am | #4

   Its for taking off your boots! Slide in the heel and lift/rotate your foot to start pulling off the boot.

1. 
   forestgirl | Jun 09, 2009 07:56pm | #12

   Those are called "boot jacks" and I've owned one or two in my day.  The object in the pictures wouldn't make it, too flimsy and no leverage.  Creative guess though!!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-) 

2. 
   Beckum | Jun 13, 2009 10:08am | #27

   School or Scouts? More then likely. But I think it is one of those incomplete project that got thrown under the bench for years and when Grandpa passed . . . . Funny thing is that someone is going to post an answer and we all are going to be slapping ourselves on the foreheads going "Duh!" . . . . As Grandpa rolls in his grave, laughing his butt off at how blind we all were.

4. 
   KeithNewton | Jun 09, 2009 03:49am | #5

   I am with the other Arkie, Mr Williams. My first home was pretty old, and there was one still hanging in the kitchen for a box of matches. Pre-pilot years.

5. 
   roc | Jun 09, 2009 07:43am | #6

   Almost sort of looks like a " pipe box"

   http://www.replitiques.com/spoon.html

   roc

   Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )

1. 
   9michael9 | Jun 09, 2009 12:01pm | #7

   I don't think anyone has solved the mystery yet.  Its not a pipe box, nor a match box holder, I feel quite sure.

1. 
   MikeHennessy | Jun 09, 2009 02:42pm | #8

   I agree -- none of the above, tho' when I first saw it I thought it was a match holder. (Made one like it in shop when I was about 10.) But the lack of a bottom eliminates that. Also made a flower pot holder that looked similar, but I don't think it's that either.

   Definately a shop (or scouting) project, tho'. I'm guessing it's a holder for something that would be found in the kitchen, but beyond that, I'm stumped. Unless it's a holder for a dried flower arrangement or sumpin'.

   Hope somebody comes up with an answer -- I'm gonna be stewing on this all day! ;-)Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PAEverything fits, until you put glue on it.

6. 
   whitedogstr8leg | Jun 09, 2009 08:01pm | #13

    A "Candle Box", perhaps?

7. 
   AlanBYoung | Jun 09, 2009 08:17pm | #14

   An Umbrella holder?

1. 
   9michael9 | Jun 09, 2009 08:41pm | #15

   It would hold an umbrella, and I'm guessing it was made for an object like an umbrella or something that would hang through.  The mystery object came from an estate owned by an old lady who had a fantastic early American collection.

1. 
   Barrie2777 | Jun 10, 2009 05:45am | #17

   Maybe it was a candle holder for a very busy guy. He would place it horizontally on those two small cut outs so he could burn his candle at both ends.

1. 
   9michael9 | Jun 10, 2009 12:17pm | #18

   I've done that most of my life, but the flame grew dim, and I started conserving it. lol

2. 
   roc | Jun 10, 2009 05:44am | #16

   >An Umbrella holder?I thought of that but figured too difficult to get more than one in and out of the interior but now that I think again if you just hook the handle on the rim with the brella on the outside . . . huuummmm . . . naaaahhh . . .more likely they made it and forgot to put the bottom in and it has never been used for anything.rocGive me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )

1. 
   9michael9 | Jun 10, 2009 12:22pm | #19

   The Lincoln quote don't really make sense. I would sharpen the axe for that length of time, but say every i5 minutes or so.  I think that's what he meant, and was misquoted by someone who never choped a tree down.

1. 
   Gretchen | Jun 13, 2009 05:25pm | #29

   Definitely not a boot jack as FG says.

   I think it was made to hold a china dish of some kind--as someone else suggested. Maybe a salt cellar. But definitely "recent" reproduction kind of construction as opposed to "vintage".Gretchen

1. 
   MB | Jun 14, 2009 04:36am | #30

   I am by no means an expert on the subject ( or even an amatuer) but my guess is that it may have or was intended to hold candles before they were used.  I think candles were once made with one long string.  You hold the string in the middle and dunk both ends into the hot wax several times until the candle is thick enough.  What you have has no bottom because one of the candles goes inside the box while the other goes on the outside with the string that connects them draped over the cutout on the front.

2. 
   9michael9 | Jun 14, 2009 12:00pm | #32

   No sign of any wax on the object at all.

3. 
   Gretchen | Jun 14, 2009 05:59pm | #39

   Not a candle holder.  Those were slotted strips of wood for the dipping.  ;o)

    Gretchen

2. 
   geppetto425 | Jun 14, 2009 09:18am | #31

   It's too decorative for a boot holder. I'm thinking it's a replica of a spice dryer. Hang garlic or other spices or even some tobacco leaves for drying in or near the kitchen???

1. 
   9michael9 | Jun 14, 2009 12:01pm | #33

   The oval cutout in the front wouldn't be needed if this were the case, I think.

8. 
   davcefai | Jun 10, 2009 08:03pm | #20

   Could it be a toilet roll holder? The 2 semicircles in the sides would support a dowel.

1. 
   9michael9 | Jun 10, 2009 11:14pm | #21

   I think it could be a note paper holder, rather than toilet paper.  The circle in the front would show how much note paper was left.  The opening is too small for toilet paper.  I do believe this probably solves the mystery.  This means the shop teachers were right about it being a shop project.

9. 
   md2453 | Jun 11, 2009 06:13pm | #22

   Michael:

   Have you never seen a twisted widget dispenser?  The two indentations on the sides are where the bar shaped twisting mechanism was located.  The widget material would be inserted from the top and through the twisting mechanism and pulled from the bottom of the device. 

   Many things besides widgets can be twisted using these dispensers.  Most politicians are familiar with it's wide range of uses and it is rare to find a senator or congress person who is not fully knowledgeable in their use.

   During the 60's the now famous mobius strips were manufactured using larger versions of this device.  The mobius was inserted in the top and a large hot glue gun was held at the bottom so that the ends could be connected quickly before the natural tendency of the mobius to flatten out could take effect.

   Now you're sorry you asked huh?

   Madison

1. 
   9michael9 | Jun 14, 2009 03:37pm | #38

   I always dropped my mobius strips in a tub with 4 boxes of starch to stiffen them.  It appears my method was too easy.

10. 
    TiminMintHill | Jun 11, 2009 06:34pm | #23

    Going by the shape of the front cutout and the indentations in the top, I vote for it being an old fashioned (i.e ma bell) phone holder for when you had, say a kitchen phone, that you wanted to set down the handset and not hangup. The phone handle may lay across the top indentations, or the earpiece would fit along the rounded lower cutout.

    Seems reasonable to me...

11. 
    keithflknr | Jun 12, 2009 10:23am | #24

    toilet paper holder

1. 
   9michael9 | Jun 12, 2009 12:02pm | #25

   too small for toilet paper.

12. 
    mike4244 | Jun 13, 2009 02:29am | #26

    This straps to your mule for  holding a beverage when you go off to town. First known beverage holders in colonial times were exactly like yours. I believe you may have an expensive antique.

    mike

1. 
   9michael9 | Jun 13, 2009 12:02pm | #28

   LOL!

13. 
    bushman1000 | Jun 14, 2009 03:13pm | #34

    I believe it is a quilt hanger. You have the piece mounted on a wall, and pull the quilt or blanket up and drape it over the fronts or sides. I just finished five last month.

1. 
   9michael9 | Jun 14, 2009 03:16pm | #35

   can you post a picture of it??  Why the cutout in the front??

1. 
   bushman1000 | Jun 14, 2009 03:24pm | #36

   The cutout in front would keep whatever is hanging in the front on that design. I will try to remember to email you pictures when I do the finish on some next week, d'nt have any at this time.

1. 
   9michael9 | Jun 14, 2009 03:32pm | #37

   The overall length of the object is 18". The box itself is 4 3/4 x 4" wide not counting the fretwork on the bottom front.  I should have given the measurement in the first place-sorry.