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14 Times People Found Something They'd Never Seen Before, And The Internet Solved The Mystery
By Kelley Greene,
1 days ago
The world seems to have an unending supply of unidentifiable little gadgets and doodads that pop up out of nowhere. Lucky for us, r/whatisthisthing is here to tell us exactly what we're looking at. Here are 14 recent finds posted to the sub and what they turned out to be:
1. This metal tag someone found while digging in their garden in Indianapolis, Indiana:
"An image search shows similar items that used to be used as charge coins. Pretty cool if it is one."
"It could be worth upwards of £100/$120, especially to a collector. It's likely 19th Century. Although Thacker Spink traded until around 1960, these brass full-circle protractors were more typical of their earlier heritage.
It was most likely for nautical purposes since Thacker Spink was the Indian office of Thacker & Co., based in London. When it was likely made, the British Raj still existed, and maritime trade with India was huge. However, high-quality nautical versions typically had the primary compass points marked on them. Here's a similar one ."
"Hey...radiation safety officer here. This REALLY looks like a lead pig used to shield a radiation source housed inside the black rod part. Pigs usually come with higher activity sources...I highly recommend going down to your city’s fire department and seeing if they can scan this for you to confirm the presence of radiation. If it is radioactive, it might not be legal for you to own it, depending on the radioisotope's activity and the laws/regulations in Germany/EU."
"Update: I called the nonemergency fire brigade number this morning, and less than two minutes later, six fire engines, three ambulances, three police cars, and a bomb disposal unit arrived. They evacuated all the flats in the building for four hours until they finally took it away. It turned out to be Thorium."
They added , "They got me to take my shoes off and scanned my feet and my hands." Also, the poster's radiation levels were "higher than usual but nothing dangerous."
11. This sliding wood tool someone found in their mom's pantry:
"If you're running a tractor with a rear excavator or a big enough auger, or really any implement that is either very heavy or exerts a pulling force toward the ground, you put these on the front of a tractor to weigh it down.
Traditionally, farmers would just weld or bolt a big bucket to the front bumper of a tractor and fill it with debris, bricks, scrap metal, water, or any combination of these things. However, sometime in the late 1960s, John Deere began producing them with a specially shaped rail along the front bumper to accept these."
14. And finally, this metal basket with an attached bag:
"Fruit picker. It attaches to a broom handle and is used for apples, peaches, etc. The item in the photo is upside down, and the bag is on the wrong side. Turn it over so the ring is down. Then, attach the bag to the ring. Here is the product page. "
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