We don’t know how they did in the past, but nowadays, you can look up anything on the internet and get an answer in a few seconds. But sometimes, it’s not as simple as we think, since there are things that are hard to identify. That’s why these users helped each other find the answers about the small (and not-so-small) treasures that fell into their hands.
Now I’ve Seen Everything found these strange objects and brought them together for you to see if you can guess what they are and their purpose.
1. “Wall dingus in our new apartment. It is loose, and pulling it out of the wall shows that it’s attached to a cable. The little rondel on the front is a button.”
Answer: “It’s an emergency alert button for an in-building nurse. The apartment building may have once been an assisted living facility.”
2. “What is this thing? I found it in a frozen meal. It’s sharp and hard, spiky, and brownish colored.”
Answer: “I’m not sure, but it looks like it might be a seed pod.”
3. “Found among my dad’s things. Interesting velvet box with black object inside”
Answer: “It’s a pocket handwarmer... an old one too. I used to have a few for camping and fishing. Haven’t seen this style for a while. You light the rod in the middle. It is a coal; you close it up and pop it in your pocket. Blow in it to stoke it up.”
4. “Two plugs on this outlet, not sure what either of them are for! Found in master bedroom of a house built in late 1970s.”
Answer: “Old TV antenna. The kind you could remotely rotate to get better reception.”
5. “Heavy mass hanging on transmission cables”
Answer: “This is an art installation in a Brazilian university. This thing should be a meteor.”
6. “What are these fibrous tabs in a sealed package?”
Answer: “They kind of look like anti-fog inserts for Go Pro waterproof housing.”
7. “Found in an old leather (possibly medical) suitcase. 12 cm long, pincers open when the red top is pushed down. ’02406CHR’ printed on the back of old card container”
Answer: “Vintage olive grabber tongs.”
8. “My dad found this earlier today with his metal detector and has no clue what it is. It’s about 5 cm x 4 cm. What is this thing?”
Answer: “It is part of a bracelet or belt. It would have had companions, joined by links on all four corners.”
9. “I found this blue disc in a packet of sour cream crisps. It has the words ’ferrous 25 mm BST, cert number 213026B’ on it.’”
Answer: “It’s a testing chip. It goes through the metal detectors to ensure they’re working. There’s a problem here, though.
You send X number of testers, you get X number back. If you get X-1 or some other number, you stop the line until you find your chip. The entire purpose of the test is to make sure that stuff like this — which is supposed to simulate a foreign object — does not get through.
There’s usually paperwork to document this. Write to the outfit and tell them what you found, and rest assured there will be havoc on the other end.”
10. “Scary looking thing, but what is it? A friend found this, including the note, in a forest in Germany. Seems to be dangerous when burned, but nobody could tell us what it is and what the note is all about...”
Answer: “It’s most likely an old dry pine sap, it burns really well, a lot of people use it as a fire starter, but it’s toxic in closed areas, hence the warning.”
11. “Found this thing on the beach. It’s solid and smells like seaweed, what is it?”
Answer: “Codium bursa is a green marine alga of medium size.”
12. “I work at the health department and found this; no idea what it does.”
Answer: “A plate bender... We use these to conform plates to rounded or uneven surfaces so the plate can be flush against bone.”
13. “Weird metal part that comes in a matchbox every once in a while”
Answer: “I asked my grandpa, and he said it looks like a match holder thing for discreetly holding matches. So, what it would do is pin through a shirt (pin is very similar to an earring), and you’d have a strike-anywhere match; and whenever you needed a match, you’d have one. He said one side should slide in completely and hold it, then the other side will only stick in part ways, so it’s an extended match. And you can use a majority of the match because it doubles as a handle, so you don’t burn yourself.”
14. “I found this room in an abandoned building. Can anyone tell me what this building may have been for and what these things hanging from the ceiling are?”
Answer: “It’s a miners’ changing room. The hooks and baskets lift their work clothes up and out of the way of the next shift.”
15. “Several rolls of this were donated to a thrift store I volunteer at. It doesn’t have any adhesive and has a kind of waxy feeling.”
Answer: “They are thorn guard strips, meant to be mounted inside bicycle tires, between the inside of the tire casing and the innertube. In theory, they help prevent tube punctures, and they do an OK job of it.”
16. “Friend received this passed down from his great-great-grandfather. It’s believed to be from Persia and about 2,000 years old.”
Answer: “It’s a hairpin or a clothespin/brooch. If it’s something 2,000 years old, you need to see a professional at a museum/institute of archaeology to get it evaluated AND then get it insured.”
17. “Some kind of goose bowl (cats for scale)”
Answer: “I am leaning toward a washbasin, which explains why it’s so shallow but wide and decorative.”
18. “Anyone know what this metal object is? (Might be photography-related)”
Answer: “It’s a glass tool.”
20. “Strange metal rose. About 3 or 4 inches long, embedded in concrete in front of a pub. I have no idea what it’s supposed to represent.”
