18 Antique Items People Suddenly Came Across and Were Completely Perplexed By

You don’t necessarily have to visit an excavation site to feel like an archeologist; visiting your granny’s kitchen, parents’ sitting room, or a thrift store might be enough. Sometimes these places hide antique objects with meanings that will forever remain a mystery.

Being curious people, we at Bright Side couldn’t pass by Internet users who posted about objects that people have stopped using only recently, seeking answers for what these items are used for. While some objects were easy to figure out, there were others that kept us scratching our heads for quite a long time.

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

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

2. “I always thought I knew everything there was to know about the things in our kitchen. Recently, my mom has found this. What is it?”

• This is a butter knife. It makes nice-looking spirals in the shape of shells. © Irina Yaroshinskaya / Facebook

3. “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

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

• It is a galvanometer. © jackrats / Reddit

5. “Please help us figure out what this cutlery is used for.”

• It’s a serving fork for sardines and sprat. © Olga Koreneva / Facebook

6. “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

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

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

8. “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

9. “Please help me figure out what this thing is. Found it in the kitchen.”

• It’s a kind of a hatchet used for chopping cabbage. My granny had the same thing in her kitchen, but now it’s lost. © Olga Emelyanova / Facebook

10. “Does anyone know what this hedgehog is used for? I can place an egg there and cover it only if I cut off the top. It’s also too small to be a butter dish.”

• It may be a box for needles if you place a piece of foam rubber inside the bottom part. © Svetlana Tsareva / Facebook

11. “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

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. “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

14. “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

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 that 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. “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

17. “The hole gets smaller when I squeeze it. Found in the kitchen at my parents’ house. What do I use it for?”

• It’s used to strip corn off the cob. © More_BRAAAINS / Reddit

18. “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

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 meanings that remain unknown to you? Please show them to us in the comments!