You all are going above and beyond the call of duty and I thank you. Please don’t stop.
I’ve invited Philliam to join in, as his sister is the curator of the mystery object.
I would vote that it’s a handle meant to attach to or reinforce some other item, like a whisk broom for a desk, or a handheld fan or flyswatter.
The key features that perhaps rule out a lot of guesses are:
(1) It appears that there are no sharp edges, it’s just stamped out of a sheet;
(2) The triangular holes surely have some purpose - they are at the pointy end so they don’t look decorative, and otherwise why bother on a cheap promo item.
(1) doesn’t rule out some kind of scraping function, but doesn’t a zester need a sharp edge at the rim of the holes? If you ran that thing over a lemon rind nothing would happen. If you look at the pics of the superficially comparable antique zester above, the holes are much more than just punched holes, there are sharp edges.
The whiskbroom handle idea gets my vote.
It was a common image when running for office to talk about cleaning things up.
It looks like some kind of a blade holder to me. the triangular holes allow for quick connect. Little brad type pins on the blade fit into the wide part of the opening and lock into a corner. Notice that one of the points of each triangle are aligned to the center point of the radius of the curve so that when the blade is engaged in cutting the pins stay locked in. one of the saws in** KarlGauss’** link looks similar but has rivets instead of pins.
mc
An early attempt at making something like the three seashells.
The drawback with this idea is that this seems like it would require compatibility with a specific design of blade, quite a specialized item. That doesn’t comport with it being a cheap promotional handout to voters.
I think it must serve some mainstream everyday purpose so that anyone would be inclined hang it in their kitchen, keep in handy in their pocket, something like that.
Was his father a trusted politician or businessman or otherwise in the public eye? Because if so this could be a punny way of saying he’s a chip off the old block.
If you google ‘surgical plate’, you get a load of vaguely similar-looking objects - long things with some holes in one end, and a curved section.
I’m start to feel like this is the likely answer. The curved non-sharp edge makes sense against the side a cocktail shaker or a glass. The non-sharp holes have a clear purpose. If the 1928 reference is correct, it was during prohibition, so I wonder if there was a political angle that Mr Schwartz was anti-prohibition? Or it could be for a later election, with the alcohol theme appropriate for the end of prohibition. This kind of use makes good sense as a promo item.
Here’s a somewhat comparable item:
https://www.barproducts.com/endurance-reg-stainless-steel-vintage-cocktail-strainer-and-spoon
Try googling “vintage julep strainer”.
https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=MvPuXLjxG9TG-gSonJv4Dg&q=vintage+julep+strainer
So I’m suggesting that it’s a crude cheaply made version of this kind of cocktail strainer - an apt promotional item at or near the end of prohibition, when everyone would be free to buy booze and mix their own cocktails at home again.
Doesn’t look very efficient at that. It could be a sugar spoon for absinthe or something similar.
Do we have any real date on this or when this guy could have been running for coroner?
Also,John Oliver did a piece on the coroner system vs. medical examiners. This could be something modern.
This item is very similar to a zester my grandparents had - note the similarity of the row of triangle holes. I second the vote for it being some type of kitchen implement for zesting.
Did you look at Cruver’s patents? Because they have a couple for fly swatters. Also one for an “insect destroyer” :D.
Handles don’t look like that though.
The coroner election was in 1928, per link upthread.
It’s not a zester, as it is smooth on both sides where the triangle cut-outs are. Similar looking zesters have the metal from the cut-outs bent outward to cut into the fruit.
Could it possibly have been an object that was designed to be a mystery? Given the promotional nature of the printing on it, could the purpose have been to create something that people would pass around and ask “what the hell is this thing?”
Fun idea. If that’s true, I’m voting Schwartz.
We can’t be sure that is the right Swartz: it is a big country–there can be more than two Swartzii that have ran for Coroner. (Yes, there have been at least two.)
I guess we could post the pic to Kevin’s facebook page and ask him what it is. If he doesn’t know, that will rule him out.
I’m not claiming that it is his, but that if there is Kevin and weird tool guy, then there could be a third that isn’t either of them.