11 Curious Items From the Past With Functions That Are Too Hard to Guess

Curiosities
year ago

It is wrong to assume that people of the past were less inventive than you and I are today. Their imagination was rich enough to create a variety of things, some of which were useful, and others were, well, quite strange.

For example, there was a reusable body cleaning pill, which was also inherited. There were car vases, a device for measuring applause volume, a pocket sundial, a toaster fork, and other quirky objects.

Bright Side has assembled a small collection of vintage accessories, the purpose of which modern people often struggle to figure out at first glance.

11. A car vase

10. A reusable cocktail pick

9. A device for dialing a rotary phone

8. A mechanical circular calculator

7. A hooked ice pick

6. Victorian ice cream spoon

5. A toy washing machine

4. A pocket sundial

3. A perfume flask necklace

2. “An egg shell topper cutter — found this under the floor of a nineteenth-century house.”

1. The Clap-o-Meter

Do you have any strange old things like this lying around your house?

Please note: This article was updated in June 2022 to correct source material and factual inaccuracies.
Preview photo credit KleverKlem / Reddit

Comments

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Wow! Never found anything this weird. Does anyone have any of these at home? Are they for real?

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Number 2 is an amalgam capsule used in dentistry. That is not a pill, it is a piece of metal that helps in the agitation process

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Number 12 is a "Champagne Twizzler" for removing bubbles from champagne not a cocktail pick.

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