18 Times People Found Mysterious Old Items, and the Internet Came to the Rescue

You’ve probably seen one of those hilarious YouTube videos of teenagers who don’t know how to use a rotary phone. Well, the heroes of this article faced much more difficult challenges. They stumbled upon some pretty extravagant antique items, and they had no idea what they were.

Here at Now I’ve Seen Everything, we’ve literally seen everything, but some of these mysterious items left us speechless.

1. “What is the purpose of a ring like this? The face of it is clasped shut and can be opened up to reveal little space for holding something.”

• This is a perfume ring that holds solid perfume. Ladies wore them way back in the day when there was more rotten stuff decomposing around towns, gutters, and in the street. ©FullMoonRougarou / Reddit

2. “What is this thing? Moon face type thing found buried 6 inches in my yard.”

• Probably just a moon face garden decoration. © CT_curler / Reddit

3. “Found this in a kitchen utensil box at a thrift store. Any idea what this oddly beautiful object is for?”

• It’s for grilling on a BBQ or fire. The food goes inside and can then be turned easily by flipping the whole thing over. © McTraveller / Reddit

4. “What are these? I found them in my granny’s sideboard.”

• These are micro vases for a suit pocket, for boutonnieres. © Tatalia Bry / Facebook

5. “What is this oval metal tool that I found in a box of sewing and craft supplies?”

• I found this website selling something similar as a “handle for carrying books.” © mokilmister / Reddit
• It may be missing 2 straps, which pass through the holes on each end. That center hole looks about right for a handle. © xmastreee / Reddit

6. “A strange clock-like thing I found in my house”

• It is a galvanometer. © jackrats / Reddit

7. “Stainless steel, about the size of a teaspoon, no additional markings”

• It’s a mint sauce ladle. © RockyDroidhead / Reddit

8. “What is the use of this fourth piece of cutlery I’ve seen in a German museum?”

• It’s a baby food pusher, quite common in the 1800s and early 1900s. © Mackin-N-Cheese / Reddit

9. “An unusual small silver box with a wing on a chain inside”

It’s a purse hook. You hang it off of the table, so your purse doesn’t touch the floor. The company that made this one is called Arbon, and it’s from the mid-century. © Skrods / Reddit

10. “Unknown object detected! What is it? My friend is sorting out her granny’s closet and keeps finding weird things.”

• It’s used for patching heels on woolen socks. © Olga Amosova / Facebook

11. “Please help me find out what this thing is. I found it in my granny’s sewing kit, but I’m not sure if it’s used for crafts.”

• It’s a special clamp used for compressing rubber and other elastic pipes in laboratories. Was your granny a lab worker? © Gala Ohrimenko / Facebook

12. “I saw this object at an exhibition. I wonder what it’s used for.”

• It’s a gadget for sharpening pin drills. © Irina Toroshina / Facebook

13. “I found this metal object. No text or numbers on it, and it can retract to be the size of a bracelet.”

• It’s the top (closure part) of a purse or small handbag. © sjhill / Reddit

14. “We found this object in an old sewing machine. It is plastic; when you press the button, something like tweezers comes out. What is this, and what is it used for?”

• These are tweezers for removing ticks. I don’t know why it’s in the sewing machine. I can only assume that someone was using it for removing unnecessary threads. It grabs threads perfectly, and I also used it for the same purpose. Still, its main function is removing ticks. © Nadejda Panchenko / Facebook

15. “We were sorting out my dad’s garage and found 3 pots with some colorful bars. There is some kind of spring squeezed to a ring inside each of them. They have no smell, don’t burn, but smoke heavily. What can they be?”

• It’s so nice to know something other people don’t. The photo shows a refill for a lava lamp. The spring on the bottom heats up from the lamp and paraffin floats in water. © nkamelin / Pikabu

16. “A small scoop with an alligator clip as the handle — found it while cleaning out the kitchen.”

• It’s a coffee scoop with a bag clip for a coffee bag... © Re-Groot / Reddit

17. “Heavy metal device that has instructions to set on the stove. Handle of the roller appears to have 1880 on it”

• It’s a fluting iron. © jackrats / Reddit

18. “Thick cast iron metal, jungle-themed. Found in a forest, not near any houses. Definitely old, no houses around where it was found. Wooden frame and no other markings”

• That is the back of a small bench for a child. We have one exactly like it. © RagingLeonard / Reddit

Do you think you would be able to recognize many of the objects from this compilation without looking at the hints? Are there any things in your home with purposes that remain unknown to you? Please show them to us in the comments!