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Antique Furniture Pictures | What Is It?

This section of my photo album will contain pictures of the odd and unusual. These primitives were used on farms in the Midwestern part of the United States. I started attending farm auctions as a small boy 50 plus years ago and have always been fascinated with the primitives found in barns and the out building of early farmsteads. Generally someone in attendance knew what the primitive items were used for. However on ocassion something comes along that perplexes even the most knowledgeable auction attendee! If you know or would like to guess at the use of the items pictured in the following photo albums please feel free to comment. I will try to share what I know about each item I add to the photo album as a starting point. Hopefully we can all learn more about these early farm collectibles by sharing our knowledge! By clicking on the photo album you can view more photos of each "What Is It". Please note that comments may be left under each individual photo. To stop spam posts I moderate all postings before they are approved!
What Is It - 1

What Is It - 1

Thu 16 Apr 2009 08:53:55 PM CDT

Number 1 "What Is It" came from an Amish area of the Midwest and was used on a 5 generation farmstead. The top cast iron cone was designed to swivel and has 6 wooden fingers attached to it. The metal cone appears to have been designed to turn off center and was bolted to something. Each wooden finger was split at the end and riveted giving the finger a bent shape. The fingers are stationary and point inward at the bottom. No one at the Midwestern farm auction where I purchased this primitive "What Is It" knew it's use. Even the Amish in attendance were perplexed though one Amish man guessed it might have been used to start a corn fodder shock? At first glance it would appear to be made for grabbing or lifting something such as hay. However as the fingers don't move it seems unlikely it was designed to lift an object. My personal guess is that it was used on an early piece of farm machinery? Such as a corn binder and that it was designed to rotate rather than lift???

2

2

Thu 16 Apr 2009 08:57:58 PM CDT

3

3

Sun 19 Apr 2009 08:48:10 PM CDT

4

4

Sun 19 Apr 2009 09:16:20 PM CDT

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Rating 1 (Total votes: 1)
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