Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

French Brocante Guessing Game

French brocante

Another guessing game…

Do you know what this is?

If you do, tell me in the comment section.

If you don't give a creative guess… two winners will be announced tomorrow.

French brocante 

It is the same thing… just a slightly different form.

Do you know what it is?

French brocante 

Nineteen century, made of wood…. French brocante thing.

How to play:

Add a guess by leaving a comment. The first person to answer it correctly with the name of the object too will win a French antique medal.

Another winner will be selected for the most creative response.

The winners will be announced tomorrow.

Comments

71 responses to “French Brocante Guessing Game”

  1. Linda

    It looks like something for mountain climbing/hiking? Some sort of a pick with a line attached for mountain climbing. I’m probably way off. It is awful pretty. 🙂 That’s the best I can do!

    Reply
  2. =mew=

    Is it a plumb line?

    Reply
  3. becky up a hill

    antique wine barrel plug thingy!

    Reply
  4. barbara snow

    I think it’s for planting seeds or bulbs.

    Reply
  5. Patt

    A shoe stretcher.

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  6. Jean(ne) Pierre in MN

    I think it is a hat form or for some other item, for pressing in the shape, maybe? the polka dot decoration is a bonus.

    Reply
  7. Emily

    Surveying instruments

    Reply
  8. Catalina

    it is a klnxgatmenti
    it is used to find your future husband if you don’t have one.
    You put it in your bag and begins to move as crazy once you walk close to him, if you have the second version you can fix it in the ground while attaching him with the rope.
    The first version will make noise, he will be attired to the sound and afterwards is up to you!

    Reply
  9. Kathleen

    I think its for setting out straight planting lines,you put the pointed end in the soil and lay out your planting line with the rope!

    Reply
  10. Christina

    Hihi, to much Twilight advertisement lately on TV…
    It’s a Vampire dispatcher.
    The top one comes with an added music box to attract the Vampire, then you wip out the silver tipped pick to dispatch it *nod*
    the bottom one you, need to sing by yourself for attraction, but comes with the added bonus of a string to sling it from afar, again silver tipped for better effect.
    The colorful mirrors are to catch the first rays of sun to let you know, you’re safe for another day…
    Quite curious as to what its actual usefulness is though :o)

    Reply
  11. Denise Moulun-pasek

    It looks like a thing you use to make straight rows in the garden. Plant it in one en, unroll th cord and plant in the other end, then sow a straight row of peas or grape vines.

    Reply
  12. karina westfall

    It is a tool to make straight lines. For instance, if wanting to layout tiles, it is useful.

    Reply
  13. Sally

    I think it is used to scare birds away from eating from the newly planted garden.

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  14. Sissy Thomas

    It is a planting dibber – to make holes in the ground for bulbs.

    Reply
  15. cynthia Wolff @Beatenheart

    It’s a Glockenspirlerygig. It is a 19th century toy invented by Belgium Monks to use as an amusement when the head Monk left the monastery to buy supplies and visit the taxman in the city. The younger monks carved it from a discarded broken church pew.
    You wound the string around the brass bit and then spun it on the stone floor. Thousands of sparkly lights and colors would fly on the walls and the monks would trip the light fantastic and dance about merrily to the tunes in their heads. It was an early form of a Disco Ball.

    Reply
  16. Nancy from Mass

    I think it’s something used to stretch victorian corsets. that’s why the first one has 2 ‘thingys’ on the top. The second one has the cord still attached so you can tighten the corset as it dries.
    It’s called a “Give-me-more-room-to-breath-aparatus”.

    Reply
  17. Alexis

    Its a tent peg, for tieing and holding down the sidea of a tent when camping?

    Reply
  18. Teri

    It’s a 19th century version of a disco ball!
    The little shiny spots on it catch the light. The top one is a mechanical version – you wind it up with the key and it bounces to make the lights move. The lower one is the low tech version that you hang up so it is just sitting on the point. A breeze makes it move to cast the light’s reflections.
    Yep… I’m sure of it! ;-D

    Reply
  19. Meghan

    I have no idea. The space between the two pieces makes me think it’s for pressing something, like… like… men’s collars?

    Reply
  20. Everton Terrace

    Obviously a moustache form – they wore them quite large back in the day.
    I like Cynthia’s story today – those crazy disco dancing Monks.

    Reply
  21. georgie

    To make pretty ruffles or bend thin metal for decor. Whatever it is, it certainly is interesting and pretty in its’ own way.

    Reply
  22. Kira Lipinski

    It looks like a garden reel line, although I’m not sure what that would be in French – une bobine corde de jardin? 🙂

    Reply
  23. Leslie garcia

    Is it a collar press?

    Reply
  24. Gwendie

    It’s a shoe maker’s tool. It’s not a stretcher but used in making custom shoes. What else could it possibly be???

    Reply
  25. Betsy

    Fairy light spinners, one wind-up, the other gets the string pulled so it spins like a top… The wooden “wings” spin and the light is reflected from the bits embedded in the wood.

    Reply
  26. Chris Wittmann

    Looks like a multi purpose garden tool…a dibber and garden line combined. You make holes with the wooden dibber to plant your transplant seedlings or sow seeds, and the line was used to make a straight line for planting.

    Reply
  27. Alina Smith

    I’m going with the nut crackers. Both used to extract nuts out of hard nutshells either by smashing it a bit or using a press to do a more delicate job.

    Reply
  28. Cheryl ~ Casual Cottage Chic

    Have no idea what this would be called but I think it was used to scare off the birds from a garden, patio or vineyard. Wind it up and the two arms twirl around with the light reflecting from the colored stones.

    Reply
  29. Michelle

    Pre-electricity disco ball!

    Reply
  30. Sharon, Morrison Mercantile

    no, no, no!! none of the above!!! It is a thigh smasher for anorexic women. When she looks in the mirror and decides her thighs are to large and round…she put this apparatus between her leg…up high then clamps the two wood things down, and turns the winder on the side until it is as tight as she can stand.
    The next picture, with the handle, probably is for gardening…

    Reply
  31. Marilyn

    It is for gardening. You put your knee on it to secure it to the ground, then use it to measure out a garden plot. Oh dear, someone else had the same idea; so we must surely be right.

    Reply
  32. Babs M

    Probably used to lay rails for the Metro to make sure they were straight — the glass bits would make it easier to see in the dim underground.

    Reply
  33. Linda

    Dunno but what I DO know is marriage. We celebrated 34 years recently and it is palatable how much French husband is missed!
    Now carry on with your game:-)

    Reply
  34. Laure

    The first image is of a “motoraized top” for a baby, to lull the child to sleep. The parent sets the motorized top in the sunlight, winds it up, and tiptoes from the room. The top then begins to throw pretty rainbows of color all about the room to entertain baby until the child falls asleep.
    The bottom one if for a a toddler or young child. The child sits in the sunlight and spins the top with the string to watch the delightful refractions of light dance all around. When it’s done spinning, the child wraps the string around it and does it again!

    Reply
  35. Marie-Noëlle

    Does that thing on picture1 (sort of machine you have to wind up)is part of the object or did you add it to mislead us ???
    I HAVE NOT GOT A CLUE what it is ! and it does NOT inspire me in any guess …
    But I like reading all others’ ideas !!!

    Reply
  36. le petit cabinet de curiosites

    It is for hunting and is called “miroir aux alouettes ” , it is to create a diversion for birds (alouettes )I think it is the first time I guess one of your guessing game.
    Some of french expressions are coming from this piece. I will tell you later

    Reply
  37. le petit cabinet de curiosites

    I think in english it is called a decoy

    Reply
  38. Merisi

    A tool to gauge the depht of trouble one is in?
    A nautical tool to measure knots?

    Reply
  39. Lizbeth

    This item is a “Dumb Nanny”. It is used to secure a baby in place on the lawn until you return. The stake is placed forcefully into the ground, while the child is attached by the string. (Length of string to be determined) The box is weighted to ensure the baby stays put. This way, Mom gets a 20-minute nap in the shade.

    Reply
  40. MIMI

    I agree it must be some type of shoe stretcher. Very scuptural!

    Reply
  41. Monica

    The second oddity is a “crossbow harpoon”, used by the Inuit to bring down flying fish. As for the first one, I’m not quite sure, but I do believe it’s another Inuit artifact know as a “gravity scale, once used (only after the 19th century) for weighing each carved addition to a totem pole, thereby insuring it wouldn’t topple from too much top weight .
    Although, in retrospect, I do remember reading something about “Vampire Dispatchers” and how very practical they were for taming and socializing some of the more unruly immortals.

    Reply
  42. dotsie (aka podso)

    Maybe it’s a sort of spinning top, whether you use it with cord in the box (from which the two spin in different directions providing quite the entertainment) or singly, wound up by the visible string.

    Reply
  43. Victoria Ramos

    Michelle took my guess – turn of the century disco ball!
    Whatever the real use of this item — it is wacky and hard to believe you saw two different ones!

    Reply
  44. Lorelei Lane

    I think perhaps it is a sort of clamp to hold tents in place. Or perhaps to stake-out Corey’s large umbrella…Or Annie’s colorful kite. Yes, I think perhaps it is some sort of stake to keep someone or something in their place!! Corey you cannot use these to keep your babies at home!!

    Reply
  45. pamelajane

    Surely they’re mechanical scarecrows, operated in the garden to scare away pesky salad-munchers. Wind up the top mechanism, and the colorful wooden shapes will spin and pop up and down, creating a frightening whizz and clatter. Stake the bottom version in the ground, wind up the string, then pull it quickly to set the wooden shape into whizzing action with frightening glints of reflected light. So much more fun than just standing there flapping your arms.

    Reply
  46. Natalie Thiele

    I believe it’s a wave maker. Used in lazy rivers and ponds to make waves to entertain those who lived too far from the ocean.
    The first edition, with a key winding mechanism, proved to be too difficult to rewind, so the second “improved” version was created.
    One can stand on the shore, wind the string around the base, plop the wavemaker in the water, yank the string, the wavemakers go up and down and round and round and voila! Waves! A very useful invention.

    Reply
  47. beachy

    hmmm… looks like some sort of surveyor’s tool…the second one reminds me of my dad’s plumb bob.
    …otherwise it looks like some sort of very dangerous circus whirlygig!

    Reply
  48. Katherine Miller

    Hello Corey – Could it be some type of last for making or stretching hats? Take care, Katherine

    Reply
  49. Krista

    It’s an old-fashioned night light!

    Reply
  50. welltraveled10

    I think it makes pleats in fabric..Perhaps?????

    Reply
  51. ann

    A bird scarer maybe? wind up and the ‘wings’ scare away the birds from your garden. the top picture could be an aggressive type of alarm clock – wind it up and when it goes off the ‘propellers’ rattle around to wake you up. xx

    Reply
  52. kathy woods

    Hi Corey
    Is it for making shoes? The cobbler could put the shoe over this and then use the sewing / tacks to put it all together?
    Kathy

    Reply
  53. Paula S In New Mexico

    It is for marking the lines on a clay tennis court.

    Reply
  54. Kristin

    It is used by gentlemen while outside playing golf. The put the steak in the ground and place their coats on it. This way they do not have to lay their coats on the ground! The string is to make sure the caddy doesn’t leave it behind!

    Reply
  55. Laura

    The first photo is a wind up hat displayer.
    The second photo is a haberdasher’s tool to hold on to the hat while making it.

    Reply
  56. Michelle

    Isn’t it obvious that it’s a model for shaping one’s mustache?

    Reply
  57. Bev

    The second one might be an ice ax used for climbing the French Alps?

    Reply
  58. Mellie

    I think it is a tool for transplanting. Is it called a dibble? And the string help to make sure spacing is accurate between plants or seeds.
    Fun to wonder! I like the word dibble.

    Reply
  59. Lucy Rogers

    An early mammogram machine! lol
    “..stick them in here and stand still!”
    I guess I don’t know..

    Reply
  60. Mahala

    I think it’s something that one rests their gun on to steady it on the ground. OR maybe its a fun way to keep your bicycle in an upright position.

    Reply
  61. Jackie

    I think it’s a plummet (aka plumb bob) it’s used to make a vertical reference line (the pointed weight is suspended by the string.)
    jackie
    ps corey, please check my blog for a pretty funny french language faux pas…
    blissfarmantiques.blogspot.com

    Reply
  62. Zosia

    It’s a hand held helicopter. You yank on the string (in one version) or turn the nob (in the other version) then you hold it up like an umbrella. The helicopter wings turn and take you up up up to the balcony or the window of your lover to kiss them. If Romeo had this device, his monologue under Julia’s balcony would have been sealed with a kiss.

    Reply
  63. joanne

    an automated ice pick!

    Reply
  64. Mahala

    You set them in or on the ground and then do a hand stand, resting your head on the wood, then…you spin upside down on it!

    Reply
  65. Sue Tinker

    How about a short clothes line?

    Reply
  66. Jonathan from Napa, CA

    It is a device for men to learn how to tie bow ties.

    Reply
  67. Christine

    This object is intended to take away birds, thanks to the small mirrors. The sun is reflected by those mirrors when the object turns (for the first). The second is simply planted in the ground for the same usage.
    They are installed to protect the sowing in the gardens of the greediness of birds :o)

    Reply
  68. dining room tables

    I wonder how fun is that game to play. Those things are quite scary for me. But I admit that those are a very amazing stuff. I wish I can try that mysterious game.

    Reply
  69. ellen cassilly

    A hiking axe for hiking on icy mountains.

    Reply
  70. Sylvia

    Is it a wine opener?

    Reply
  71. Danna

    either some kind of hat stretcher, shaper……or seomthing to do with making lace, perhaps???

    Reply

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