Be the first to guess what the pictured item is by leaving a comment below. If you have your own whatsit, our editors can include it in a future post. Please send an email to editor@kovels.com and attach a clear picture, the size and any markings. Hopefully, we will be able to identify it for our readers!
The pictured item 54 inches high by 24 inches wide by 15 inches in diameter.
(Photo: Find Weatherly)
Note: For those of you who signed up to get notified of each response (by checking the “Notify me of follow-up comments” box in the “Add Comments” section) and find it’s generating too much email, you can unsubscribe to the “Whatsitwednesday” comments by clicking the “unsubscribe” link in the “Whatsitwednesday” email you receive.
@JaneDog, the answer is in the comments, “The item is a handmade wire eel trap, a bit of folk art, probably French, from the 19th century.”
Dear Koval‘s? I thought you always gave us the answer a week after the question? Where is the answer on this one? I agree it looks like a fish trap but we could all be wrong. Please tell us!
lampshade
Answer from Kovels: The item is a handmade wire eel trap, a bit of folk art, probably French, from the 19th century.
You should provide a prize to the first, or best, answer to the game.
If the prize were a subscription to your Price Guide, it would serve two purposes : 1) To encourage readers to play, and reward them for doing so, which would, of course, increase readership, and thus, perhaps, increase revenue.
2) To provide a Sampler/Example of your Price Guide, which would help advertise it and encourage it’s use, thus, perhaps, increasing sales and revenue.
It’s all about marketing and sales.
You might not want to publish this comment, but you could send me a note saying you read it and you get it.
Thanks
hookmanbrown@yahoo.com
ok.then
I think it could be a ladies hat form.
Fish trap
Minnow Trap
It’s a bird trap, like a yellow jacket trap. The bird goes in from the bottom. It gets into the upper chamber. It can’t figure out how to get out.
it looks like a submersible fish trap. Fish swim in the wide end. The floating piece inside moves to accommodate the fishs size. it could be metal but are usually woven reed or bamboo
Fish or crab trap
Wedding dress form
It looks like a basket for catching fish, crabs or crayfish. You set it in the water, bait it, the fish get in, but can’t get back out
Placed in running water. Inside pieces are baffles
Placed in stream. The inside pieces are baffles
It’s a minnow trap.
Fish seine or trap…looks to be for catching bait fish
I believe it’s a minnow fishing bait trap. It would be placed sideways in a stream. The minnows would go in, but can’t get out.
Not sure really how old but I’d does seem to be some sort of trap. Could be for bees or flies.
I have to admit, I’m totally clueless but will guess it’s a 2-stage minnow trap. The entry point would be at the bottom and appears to be larger than the second funnel further up. Can’t tell from the photo, but the very top would be removable to empty the trap.
A dress form from which dresses and petticoates would be hung, to keep the hems off the floow and to “air out.”
A dress form used for hanging dresses and petticoats off the floor so the clothes would keep their shapes and “air out.”
Looks like a minnow or fish trap to me.
Looks like a vintage Fly Trap.
Easy one, a fish trap
It’s a fish trap.
A lobster or crab trap?
It’s a fish trap. Set in a river or lake with some bait inside the fish enter through the funnel and have trouble getting back out. The second funnel makes it even harder to escape.
Looks like a fish trap. Could be a minnow trap. If smaller could be a fly trap. Could be a bird trap.
Native Americans are allowed to trap fish and this looks like one of the traps they use. The fish can’t get back out once inside.
Fish Trap
It looks like a shrimp catcher seam to me i have seen this a few times when old timers shrimp.
I believe you have a trap to catch eels.
The fish swim through the funnels into the chamber but cannot find their way back out
Minnow or bait trap.
It looks like something used to catch fish. You would leave it submerged and the fish can swim in, but not out of the wire mesh. It would make more sense if it were photographed on its side.
Late 19th Century Handmade Wire Eel Trap,
probably French.
A lampshade for a patio or outdoor area.
Some sort of fish or crab trap.
Fishing or crap trap
I think it is a trap for minnows or other fish.
I believe this to be a insect catcher
I think it might be upside down. It looks like some sort of filter, maybe to clean rice or something like that.
I think it might be upside down. It looks like some sort of filter.
The design stops larger fish from eating the smaller bait fish that are able to enter the safety of the second chamber.
Fish trap
Mouse Trap
fish or fish bait trap.
I t looks like a fish catcher to me They swim in and can’t
Swim out.
Made in Asia by fishermen of thin bamboo sticks to trap and ensnare sea creatures
It is a fish trap for catching fish and other water critters.
fish trap
This might be a version of a crawfish trap.
This might be a version of a crawfish trap
Probably something goes into the wide bottom opening and through the more narrow section to be trapped in the middle chamber. Then smaller specimens or younger insects or animals can rise into the top section with the more narrow opening. If this is right-side up, probably something that flies. Could be used sideways in water?
Looks like an underwater device to trap some kind of fish, or shrimp, or crustaceans.
It upside down. It’s a killi net used to catch small killifish to use for bait. Put bait in it, and they swim in to get it and can’t get out
Often woven from reeds or grasses. It trapped fish and bait.
Is it a fish trap?
It’s a fish trap; the fish go in the bottom and are trapped until the bottom “cone” is removed. The second “cone” in the middle sorts out the smaller fish.
Two guesses, it’s pretty big, but maybe it went around a large glass bottle, and a way of decoration or to make pouring easier?
Or possibly a large floor lamp that is missing the electrical elements?
This was used to trap eels.
Looks like a fish trap.
I would think this would be a type of crab or fish trap.
Fish trap
This is a crawfish trap. The mudbugs swim in the open end and then can’t find their way back out.
If not crayfish, then some other small, aquatic, edible creature.
These are made and sold all over the place in the Bayou Country of Southern Louisiana.
Shrimp basket
Dressmaker mannequin
A dressmaker mannequin?
This is a fish trap or a crayfish trap
A fish or crab trap
I believe it’s a wire cage-style mouse or rat trap.
a stand for making dresses, a sewing stand..
pretty sure it is a minnow trap
Looks like something where whatever you’re hunting/fishing gets in but can’t get back out.
Its a trap for catching fish!
Fish/eel trap is my belief.
Looks similar to a minnow (or small fish) catcher.
A fyke net is perfect for catching crab, crawfish, eel or fish!
It’s a minnow catcher.
It appears to be some sort of trap, either for some type of fish/seafood, or rodents, where they could bait it and the prey could enter but not get back out.
Logically it appears to be a type of trap.
Perhaps for fish or eels. However the direction would probably need to be laying on its side, then placed in the water.
Looks like some kind of a bug catcher. It also looks like it could be upside down.
It’s a Minnow Trap
It looks like a trap for minnows or other small fish. Laid on its side, the fish swim in, but usually can’t make their way out.
Tennis ball picker upper
Those dimensions don’t make sense – how is something 15″ across and 24″ wide at the same time? Also, would have been useful to indicate the material from which this is made. Anyway, this looks like it may have been some sort of dressmaking form.
Put bait inside the trap and small fish enter the funnel open end but can’t get out.
Fish/minnow trap.
This is a fish trap. The smallest fish are safe from the larger fish after swimming to the opposite end.
This is an early fish trip.
It’s a fish trap.
minnow trap
Used to catch fish. They swim in and can’t get out.