42 People Asked “What Is This Thing?” And The Internet Had Surprisingly Specific Answers
I have a box full of random things I can’t identify, but I’m afraid to throw any of them away. What if that little plastic piece is the only thing holding the dishwasher together? Better hang on to it through three more moves.
Usually, the mystery stays in the box. These people actually went looking for answers, posting their strange finds online in r/WhatIsThisThing and hoping somebody would recognize them. And somebody usually did, sometimes with a level of detail that makes you wonder how many years they’d been waiting for this exact question.
These mystery objects include old tools, unusual household items, and discoveries that prompted a much more urgent response than “Oh, my grandma had one of those.”
See how many you can identify before reading the replies.
1. These fancy metal fixtures look ready to defend the doorway
“Often made of stone, they pushed cart wheels in if a carriage gets too close to the wall.”
“There is a blog about Paris that describes those, called chasse-roues or bouteroue, and they were designed to keep wheels away from the door.”
2. These tiny metal tongs seem to be missing something
“It’s the handle to an old razor blade sharpener, missing the glass balls.”
3. Someone found this rusty contraption abandoned in the woods
“Looks to me like what could be left from a VERY old toaster.”
“A toaster such as this.”
“Looks like a vintage toaster without the flaps. The type where you had to take out the bread and turn it over manually for the other side to be toasted. Something like this.”
4. This shiny sphere arrived by parachute, which raises a few questions
“That is certainly a radar calibration sphere. Since it’s a sphere, it has the same radar cross section from every angle, pretty important for calibration. The parachute will be made from a non-conductive material, so it would have no radar cross section.”
“This is almost certainly a radar calibration sphere.”
— u/ex0e
“It’s just a hollow aluminium sphere, nothing dangerous about it. You can throw it out with other recyclable metals.”
5. A landscaping project uncovered this underground surprise
“Utility guy here: That is the transformer providing electrical service to your house, and it is deadly; those hoses are high-voltage wires.
Don’t even mess around trying to reinstall the cover. Call the power company and tell them one of their transformer vaults is uncovered; they’ll send somebody out who can reinstall that grate safely. Until then, stay out of there.”
6. This numbered brass cone looks like something you shouldn’t guess about
— u/DC3TX
“Yep, that’s what it is. I can’t find the exact diagram, but it looks like it still has the detonator explosive intact, so I’d be careful with it, or better yet, get an expert opinion.”
7. An unsettling metal discovery in the Swiss Alps
“You need to contact the local bomb squad/EOD [Explosive Ordnance Disposal] organization. It’s anti-tank ordnance. Similar-ish model linked here.”
“Former EOD tech here. If that is actually a M344, the fuze is NOT gone. The fuze is at the base, where the fins are mounted. The tip is just a piezoelectric impact element to generate an electric charge when it hits something. The cone on the front is a hollow shroud for aerodynamics. This means the UXO [unexploded ordnance] can still be sensitive to electric shocks (which is a real concern, a static spark can trigger it).
DO NOT ASSUME UXOs ARE SAFE TO HANDLE. DON’T TOUCH THEM, MOVE THEM, OR EVEN THINK ABOUT KEEPING A NEW SHELF ORNAMENT. (I wish the shelf ornament was a joke.)”
8. This pocket-sized metal tube comes apart in several ways
“It’s a dog whistle. I have almost the exact same one.”
9. Removing a concrete stoop revealed this rusty round object
“It’s a headlight.”
“I recognize it immediately as the metal reflector off an old parabolic aluminized reflector lamp. Often used for headlamps and aircraft landing lights. Take a look at the second image in this link. Older models used metal instead of reflective glass.”
10. This little green piece clearly belongs to something
“That’s the treetop from a wooden train set.”
11. A wedding gift that arrived with some explaining to do
“It’s a gong bell/wind chime. It might be this one.”
12. A wooden thrift-store find with a very specific arrangement of holes
“It’s an aid to tying fishing flies. In a post from ‘Cover Fly Tying’ on Facebook on August 28, 2016, the text translates as: ‘Tyers’ Butler: The butler of the striker! The best way to keep your tying tools organized, within reach, and out of the way! No more wasted time looking for tools, gaining effectiveness when we do those 30 minutes to tie some flies!! Cover Fly Tying – Tying Tools and Materials. Inbox for inquiries!’”
“Yep, that’s a fly-tying tool holder. The magnet is for holding hooks. The larger hole is for a bobbin, and the two smaller holes are for scissors. You keep your best one for the thread and one for the materials. The small holes are for whip finishers, dubbing needles, hitch tools, and the like. It’s a useful thing; I’m forever losing my smaller tools.”
13. A tiny metal feather turned up outside
“It’s a silver toothpick; it came from a set. They were tail feathers in a swan.”
14. This little wooden stand comes with its own cloth bag
“Costa Rican pour-over coffee rig.”
“This is 100% correct. I might add that these have clearly never been used and are on the small side, so probably picked up as gifts or something. My wife is Tica, and we use these all the time, but they are taller to accommodate a little pitcher/carafe type vessel.”
15. This charity-shop donation looks like a very old ticket
“It’s a coupon for the welfare office. To find out how old this is, you could reach out to the municipality; maybe they have a municipal archivist who can help you. It’s probably from a time when 0.05 old French francs had a value to buy something, as its conversion comes to only €0.0076 or $0.009. I’m sure they’ll know Alfred Capitaine, as there is a road with that name in Walincourt, I would guess named after him.”
16. Someone designed all these little grooves for a reason
“I believe it’s for making necklaces. The measured curves are for measuring the hemp/string, and the other indentations are for beads, etc.”
“It’s a necklace template for beads. You put the beads or jewelry in the trays. The trenches help to keep the necklace together while working. My wife used to use one when making jewelry. Like this.”
17. This restaurant has a wall-mounted wheel full of information
“It’s a tide calculator.”
“For the sake of trivia night, these slide or wheel charts are called volvelles. There’s a small exhibit on them at The Computer Museum in Maryland.”
18. An Airbnb supplied this wooden mystery with no instructions
“It’s a puzzle.”
19. This metal tag has a particularly concerning label
“It’s a tag that would have gone on a piece of equipment that contained radioactive material. As the model and serial number have never been etched on, it would appear to have never been used. Research Specialties Co. used to be in Berkeley and Richmond.”
20. This souvenir ruler has an unexpected opening
“Comb holder with ruler for measuring uniforms, hair length, etc.”
“Here’s an auction for an RMS Queen Elizabeth one, with comb.”
21. An antique-store tool kit for someone who knows what they’re doing
“I have this exact tool, a Blake coaxial indicator. It’s a quality product, very useful. Cheap clones killed the Blake company, and now you can only find the low-quality knock-offs.”
“A Blake tool. Great piece of kit to have.”
22. Even with a banana for scale, this metal object needs explaining
“Looks like the latch for a rear-loading sanitation truck.”
The original poster replied with a photo:
“It’s a perfect match.”
23. This adjustable contraption has a mirror and a tiny viewing hole
“It’s a camera lucida. Used for drawing images onto paper. It’s a pretty neat find.”
“They’re like a heads-up display, or a red dot sight; they don’t project anything onto the paper, but when you look through them, you can see a partly transparent image of the subject superimposed onto your sketch. By looking through it while you draw, you can effectively trace the outlines of the thing you’re looking at. Kinda like this.”
24. A miniature brass hammer with more parts than expected
“Mekuginuki. ‘A great little tool that helps remove mekugi pegs from your Japanese sword.’ Mekugi pegs are used to attach the bamboo handle to the blade.”
25. A pottery cup with four holes that seem pretty deliberate
“Looks like an herb stripper.”
“I just bought this exact one and it’s awesome! Find the appropriately-sized hole for the herb you’re stripping and pull through. Rosemary, basil, and mint all worked on the first or second attempt, which is way easier than doing it by hand.”
26. A kitchen utensil that looks almost familiar
“Seems to be a cookie dough dropper, like this.”
“Here’s a video.”
— u/49orth
27. This little metal piece has a strap, a hook, and no obvious purpose
“This is what it’s from: a bar bell.”
28. There’s an unfamiliar piece of hardware hiding beneath this sink
“You must be in NYC. Standing waste valve. It’s the stopper for the tub. They often don’t work anymore.”
“I found a diagram on Google. It’s a giant lever to open and close the bathtub drain. I’ve never seen one of this style, but I’ve seen others where there’s a wheel covering the overflow port that connects down to the plughole and raises the plug to drain the tub. It’s a different mechanism, but it’s solving the same problem, letting you remove the plug from the bath without getting your arm wet.”
29. Grandpa’s belongings included this spring-loaded mystery
“It is a tiny gun. It’s a Kaninchentöter, which means ‘rabbit killer.’ It’s a spring-loaded device used for killing or stunning rabbits, particularly in the context of farming.”
— u/b1-bi
30. This 1937 badge has a dial that still spins
“Little Orphan Annie Secret Society decoder badge.”
31. An old school bus seat came with this curious attachment
“It’s an ashtray, my child — a relic of better, freer days.”
— u/lvm__
32. A marble-handled object with a surprisingly curved underside
“It’s an ink blotter. Like these.”
“Here’s one in action, in case its purpose is not clear.”
33. A carved wooden paddle with a hook hiding on the back
“This is a distaff, a tool used to hold wool while hand spinning yarns.”
“100% this! I used to have one just like it. This video demonstrates it pretty well.”
35. This rusty disc has a very particular pattern
“Disc from a disc machine grain sorter.”
36. These stacked plastic shells were spotted behind a funeral home
“It’s a vault that goes around the casket to protect it from the dirt and water. They used to be concrete, but are now plastic.”
“The vault is for the cemetery, not for the body. Protects the ground from being uneven and having sinkholes. Plus, in massive floods, the coffins can actually rise out of the ground without a vault.”
37. This unusual glass piece looks like it broke away from something bigger
“This is a piece of a Murano chandelier or another type of Murano lighting. The metal part goes into a hole in the main body of the chandelier. It is very recognisable. Something like this.”
38. Someone left this mysterious metal object in a public restroom
“It appears to be a male chastity device. I hope you didn’t touch it. He’ll probably be back for it.”
39. These beach “noodles” probably aren’t going on anyone’s dinner plate
“Sea hare, a type of sea slug, lays their eggs in spaghetti-like strings.”
40. A parking-lot find with two canisters and a connecting chain
“It’s a military-issue oil bottle for a Swedish Mauser rifle. One side would hold a solvent for cleaning the gun, the other oil for lubrication.”
41. This tiny hexagon appeared on a kitchen counter without explanation
“It looks like a Mynthon Zip Mint. Although highly unlikely, as they are not sold directly in the US.”
The original poster replied:
“Reddit, you’re the best. We definitely had some of these mints among a general stash of candy and other licorice things we brought home from a trip to Helsinki last year; all that stuff is long gone but it was on the counter at one point so I have to assume one of the mints fell out of the container and was just inside or stuck to something that was moved or cleaned today.
Thank you!! I would never have remembered these mints ever existed, let alone that we had some in the house at one point. This was gonna drive me nuts.”
42. A tiny metal trinket featuring a Pegasus and some mysterious numbers
“Reader’s Digest sweepstakes token. They liked giving trinkets in the envelopes for their sweepstakes to get you to open them. I think usually coin-shaped, but other shapes as well (apparently in the US, they had dollar bill shapes as well as coins). You could use them to scratch the sweepstakes ticket. All the examples I have seen have the same numbers on them, so I am not sure if there is any significance to them.
Apparently, they are collectible (under $10), but since this one is from the ’90s, I would assume it wouldn’t be worth anything due to the condition.”