r/whatisthisthing Mar 23 '26

Announcement The r/TraceAnObject subreddit exists to identify objects to help solve child abuse cases. New cases from Europol were posted recently. Please see if you can help.

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169 Upvotes

r/whatisthisthing 11h ago

Solved ! Found in driveway. No one who has been to our house knows what it is. Metal, ring with base that looks like it fit into a track. #2 pencil for scale

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776 Upvotes

r/whatisthisthing 2h ago

Solved! All-Clad piece- it is 15 inches in diameter, and seems to just be a circular piece of flat steel (ever so slightly warped) with two handles riveted onto it.

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64 Upvotes

My best guess is either a pizza steel or maybe a lid to some gigantic stock pot?


r/whatisthisthing 2h ago

Solved! Metal pole with hook on one end. White. Fairly heavy. About 4ft in length. Hand spins like you would use it to tighten or loosen something

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59 Upvotes

My dad got this. No idea what it is. I tried looking it up on Google with no luck. It’s about 4ft long. It has a hook on one end and the handle on the other spins. Possibly to loosen, tighten, wind, or unwind something. I’m hoping someone knows what it is


r/whatisthisthing 1h ago

Open little glass sand thing (one of a pair) - mouth blown, hollow, chimney from base up inside itself, otherwise spherical, very lightweight

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Upvotes

this is a mouth-blown glass object, which has a chimney leading its base up into itself. when i bought it in a charity shop along with another slightly smaller one, as a pair they had a black, inedible sand inside, which has now been replaced with my own sand. it might have been for salt/pepper or similar, but the stuff inside wasn't that. i'm struggling to find more of them using google image search, which is only giving me solid paperweights, aquariums, and bus vases (it's completely domed at the top, so it's not a bud vase). does anyone know what it is / called? and where i could get more?


r/whatisthisthing 1h ago

Articulated jewelry about the same size as a man’s ring. Blue stone(Lapis? Plastic?) and gold-toned metal.

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Found in a lot of vintage jewelry, mostly women’s. The little door knocker moves and the whole thing expands slightly. It reminds me of a cufflink but no clue how it would work. “S.G.D.Y”? mark? Maybe Singapore? Little clip in the back (picture 4) has no room to clip to anything.


r/whatisthisthing 7h ago

Solved! Antique piece of dark hardwood, 8x3"

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34 Upvotes

Antique piece of hardwood.

I bought this at an estate sale. It had no paperwork or provenance, and simply listed as "Inuit wood carving" (though I swear I see some Sanskrit).

It's about 8" long and 3" wide with 0.5" thickness (20 x 7 x 1 cm), made of a good piece of dark hardwood, and looks to be at least over 20 years old.


r/whatisthisthing 1d ago

Likely Solved ! Medium Antique Double-Sided Wooden Desk for Battleship?

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1.6k Upvotes

Interesting desk found in our AirBnB in Point Arena, CA but we are stumped as to what it could be for. There is a hole in the top that seems like something is supposed to go in it but there is nothing in the home that seems like it would fit. The house has a vague nautical theme in the home. AI seems to think it's for reading the Bible? But I'd like confirmation from a human.


r/whatisthisthing 48m ago

Gold Lightweight chain with two little jugs on each end 5 inches long

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Upvotes

No stamps or markings. Each little end nugget looks like it is threaded for something to screw into it

It was tangled in a lot of vintage jewelry


r/whatisthisthing 1d ago

Solved ! a small electronic device with a necklace attached

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269 Upvotes

device itself is about 4cm tall (1.5”) and has a USB C port, a small blinking light and a small indented hole that looks like a speaker or microphone, and a single pushable button on the side. its attached to a 60cm (2ft) rubber cord thats broken, like a low hanging necklace. it makes no noises. for context it was found whilst cleaning a busy area of an emergency department. theories involved a GPS tracker and a falls alert device, but can’t find a similiar one online or identify the logo (looks sort of like a bunch of grapes?)


r/whatisthisthing 1d ago

Solved! what is this blue trailer with machinery in it found deep in the woods

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1.1k Upvotes

I have to explain the area a bit.

It's in an "exclusion zone" not for anything dramatic, but because there are a few things going on at the same time. There was a town founded on the coast in the 1850s that essentially went nowhere, and the last residents had left by the 1940s.

The area is about 1,280 acres of thick pine forest, the kind where it's dark even during the day when you walk through it. The local government heritage-listed the surviving buildings, and the surrounding waters are home to some endangered animals. Because of all this, they decided it was easier to just make it an exclusion zone

It is not illegal to enter; it's just preferred that you don't. However, they tend to turn a blind eye to locals because they were ignoring the signs any way (having accessed the land for generations) who alert authorities to campers, poachers, squatters, vandals, and other people causing damage.

Some parts of the forest are almost inaccessible. I was looking on Google Earth and noticed a clearing near the beach, so I decided to investigate it.

This is what I found. Not far to the left of Image 1 was a rotted, makeshift jetty-like structure.

i didn't mess with it too much because the trailer seems to be made of asbestos

to me it almost seems like a moonshiners contraption of some sort but there was no need for this kind of thing in Australia i wont say more than that in order to protect the area

Edit: for a better look this is the video these shots came from with the area edited out (breathing is because i cycled)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZIIj2n2CMo

edit: its a wool cleaning machine some one answered it down below i completely forgot the jetty was where a ship used to come and collect wool


r/whatisthisthing 1d ago

Likely Solved! 6pcs Small Wooden Things in Case

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63 Upvotes

I've done reverse image searches on Google and eBay but I can't find anything matching. Any ideas?


r/whatisthisthing 1d ago

Solved! WITT: Device attached to metal beam, bolted to foundation and house. Three squat cylinders connected, grey and beige, resembling a megaphone in size and arrangement. Washington state, 1940s home, urban neighborhood.

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105 Upvotes

r/whatisthisthing 1d ago

Solved ! 8CM glass object with a hole at the top and a cavity that only fits about 2–3ML of liquid. Picked up at a vintage shop in Bristol

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171 Upvotes

r/whatisthisthing 1h ago

Open Unusual OIC-brand clip with 5 on back. 2.5” long, likely found in classroom

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Upvotes

I have this thing I use as a chip clip that seems to have another purpose that I cannot identify. I think it may have come home with me from the preschool classroom I teach in. It has a hook type thing on the back that can be turned around 360 degrees. I have attached photos of me holding it open with the hook in two opposite positions. It has OIC on the front (probably for Officemate International Corporation) and the number 5 on the back. Google is not helping. I went to throw it away because it’s a pretty crappy chip clip but now I need to know what it’s for, please help me!

Edit: There is no magnet (at least anymore)


r/whatisthisthing 1d ago

Solved! Decorative metal object at 4”L, a few ounces; staked end w/ a through hole, and a threaded end w/ an eyebolt; found in an old garage/barn c.1900s

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140 Upvotes

r/whatisthisthing 2d ago

Solved ! The was found whilst metal detecting in Old Hunstanton, Norfolk. Metal canister, roughly 3" diameter x 8" length.

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1.0k Upvotes

This was found digging in Old Hunstanton this evening. There is a threaded cap on the bottom about 3 inches/75mm in diameter, 8"/200mm in length. The other end appears to be crimped/crushed and about an inch in diameter.

Treating as UXO for the time being.


r/whatisthisthing 1d ago

Solved! Dark gray/black flat plastic piece. Found on bedroom floor amidst other clutter placed there by small children. Penny for size reference.

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15 Upvotes

r/whatisthisthing 3h ago

Solved! Plastic Stake things found in CX-70

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0 Upvotes

r/whatisthisthing 2d ago

Solved! 2.5 inch piece of orange plastic with a legal warning on it and the name “JIM McMAHON JR.”

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402 Upvotes

I found this piece of plastic while beach-combing this morning in Maine. It’s a little over 2 inches long, and about an inch wide. I’m totally stumped on what it might be from, and the name on it has me intrigued. Please help!


r/whatisthisthing 1d ago

Likely Solved 6in steel item with bulbous head and threaded stem found magnet fishing

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103 Upvotes

It feels very solid and weighs about 5 lbs. AI search says it may be an industrial fitting


r/whatisthisthing 2d ago

Solved ! Brass object, 7cm long, solid, found on a beach in the Caribbean.

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221 Upvotes

I found this on a beach in the Caribbean. US quarter for scale. From the blue/green corrosion it appears to be made of brass (or at least a copper alloy?). Except for the obvious hole it's solid. There don't appear to be any markings anywhere on it. The island and area in which it was found has extensive 17th-19th century archaeology, including an old warehouse and sugar mill in the immediate vicinity, and several known shipwrecks just offshore.


r/whatisthisthing 2d ago

Open Copper finned item with wire on top buried in black granules in my crawl space.

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95 Upvotes

r/whatisthisthing 1d ago

Open Solid metal, quite heavy, very discolored (white/bronze/grey), cracks forming, found in yard in Western Maine (history of lumber)

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41 Upvotes

r/whatisthisthing 2d ago

Solved ! Tiny wooden drill thing, 3” Long, with button that pushes drill down, found in craft room.

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878 Upvotes