# Need help identifying "stuff" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 15, 2012, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-stuff/621947 "2012-05-15T01:23:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CheeseDonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@CheeseDonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheeseDonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-stuff/621947/1 "2012-05-15T01:23:33Z")
Just a few things I found while looking through a box of stuff. Just wondering what they are, how old they are (if possible). Thanks. [![](http://tinypic.com/images/goodbye.jpg) ](http://tinypic.com/images/goodbye.jpg) [http://i46.tinypic.com/242spj8.jpg](http://i46.tinypic.com/242spj8.jpg) - A porcelain egg? Two looks at the same thing: [![](http://tinypic.com/images/goodbye.jpg) ](http://tinypic.com/images/goodbye.jpg) [![](http://tinypic.com/images/goodbye.jpg) ](http://tinypic.com/images/goodbye.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-stuff/621947/2 "2012-05-15T01:39:52Z")
Mortar and pestle? Does the longer object have a rough surface for grinding? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-stuff/621947/3 "2012-05-15T01:41:05Z")
The porcelain egg might have been used as a darning egg. Back when people actually darned socks, you’d put a darning egg or mushroom into the sock so that you wouldn’t darn too tightly. Such eggs were also used as decorations. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-stuff/621947/4 "2012-05-15T03:34:43Z")
Either I need new glasses or those pictures are badly out of focus. Can we get a shot of the ends of the first one? It looks like a candlestick or possibly a vase. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-stuff/621947/5 "2012-05-15T03:45:32Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > The porcelain egg might have been used as a darning egg. Back when people actually darned socks, you’d put a darning egg or mushroom into the sock so that you wouldn’t darn too tightly. Such eggs were also used as decorations. Darning eggs have a handle, makes them infinitely easier to handle. They did use plain white clay/porcelain/whatever material eggs to [fool chickens](http://theeggshop.com/) into not laying more eggs. ---
**Author:** ![CheeseDonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@CheeseDonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheeseDonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-stuff/621947/6 "2012-05-15T04:13:17Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Either I need new glasses or those pictures are badly out of focus. > > Can we get a shot of the ends of the first one? It looks like a candlestick or possibly a vase. My camera doesn’t do well with close up (within 12 inches) shots. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-stuff/621947/7 "2012-05-15T06:29:19Z")
The last one looks like a cosmetics jar - maybe something in which cold cream was sold. Does it have any markings on the base? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-stuff/621947/8 "2012-05-15T06:30:50Z")
> [@CheeseDonkey](#): > > My camera doesn’t do well with close up (within 12 inches) shots. Hold it further away. A smaller, sharp image is more useful than a big, fuzzy one. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-stuff/621947/9 "2012-05-15T19:10:41Z")
> [@](#): > > Darning eggs have a handle, makes them infinitely easier to handle. Not necessarily. My mom has a bunch that don’t. They wouldn’t have been used with chickens, since they were goose-egg sized or larger. And the first and third objects might be a mortar and pestle. ---
**Author:** ![cynyc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@cynyc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cynyc)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-stuff/621947/10 "2012-05-15T22:20:11Z")
It’s a “milk glass” sex toy. ---
**Author:** ![qualityleashdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/9f8e36/32.png) [@qualityleashdog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qualityleashdog)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-stuff/621947/11 "2012-05-15T23:05:39Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Darning eggs have a handle, makes them infinitely easier to handle. They did use plain white clay/porcelain/whatever material eggs to [fool chickens](http://theeggshop.com/) into not laying more eggs. They don’t always have a handle, the one my grandfather brought back from Tinian during World War II didn’t. Funny they’re selling eggs to fool the chickens into NOT laying, the hatchery catalogs I receive sell fake eggs to let the chicken know where they’re supposed to lay, solving the problem of laying in odd places in the yard instead of their nestbox. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-stuff/621947/12 "2012-05-16T01:03:40Z")
My maternal grandmother’s darning egg didn’t have a handle, though I’m sure it would have been easier to use if it had had a handle. ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-stuff/621947/13 "2012-05-16T05:38:28Z")
That’s a ruler from Pfluke Aquarium, Rochester New York. It was probably used at the time for measuring things or showing the relative size of objects in photos. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-stuff/621947/14 "2012-05-16T14:12:52Z")
My initial thought at seeing the first picture is “that’s for your hat pins.” But it’s just a guess, based on what ancient ladies in my life had on their dressing tables for hat pins. I did think darning egg as well.