Guessing Game: What Is It?

1. Adam Walker
   November 30th, 2006 at 6:23 am

   I think its for making cheese. Dunno why but I think I’ve seen one before.

2. Kevin Register
   November 30th, 2006 at 6:39 am

   It’s a box that’s passed around at meetings for voting on various things, such as whether a prospective member should be admitted to the club. A “blackball” box.

3. brayden
   November 30th, 2006 at 7:30 am

   it’s a percussion instrument

4. Tim
   November 30th, 2006 at 7:45 am

   I think it’s a box for collecting donations in church. The top is closed so the ‘collector’ can’t see that you donate buttons instead of money

5. Tyler
   November 30th, 2006 at 7:48 am

   Kevin is right. One compartment holds stones/marbles/objects of a uniform size/shape/color and a different set of stones/marbles/objects or a different size/shape/color. In order to vote a person will choose a stone (normally white and round) for a yes vote, or a different stone (normally black and square) for a no vote. The top slides back so that the votes can be counted.

6. Ryan N.
   November 30th, 2006 at 8:15 am

   i believe it is something you hold a candle with. you hold the handle at the end and put the candle in the top holder, then when you are finished, you can store the candles in the box.

7. c
   November 30th, 2006 at 8:21 am

   Storing tobacco

8. Matt
   November 30th, 2006 at 8:30 am

   It’s a coffee grinder

9. Kurt
   November 30th, 2006 at 8:48 am

   Kevin Register is correct. It is for voting, but more precisely it is a “blind ballot box”. A Steward would carry the box from its station to a table in the middle of the hall. Each voting member would then be lead through a procession (by the Steward and the Assistant Steward one for each side of the hall) to the voting table in a single file line. This prohibits anyone from seeing another person vote. The open portion of the box would contain both black and white marbles. If you were casting a yes vote you would move a white marble into the closed portion through the hole–black for a no vote. Once the vote was complete and everyone is seated the Steward would carry the ballot box the Master (or President) of the organization who would open the closed portion and look to see if the vote was passed (frequently a membership vote). Incidentally, more recent versions of this box have been reformated slightly and fully lined with a thick felt inside of the closed portion. This has enabled the substitution of black cubes for the black marbles allowing blind members to vote as well by dropping a black cube in rather than a white marble.

   Or maybe its just a maraca.

10. Arnau
    November 30th, 2006 at 8:49 am

    I think it is an old photo camera.

11. Britt
    November 30th, 2006 at 9:05 am

    I was thinking a tinderbox?

12. Kiera
    November 30th, 2006 at 9:06 am

    It looks like an old fashion coffee mill/grinder. I know it’s already been stated, but I second that opinion.

13. emtoh
    November 30th, 2006 at 9:55 am

    Definitely a voting box. My fraternity had one. Used for voting on whether or not pledges would be admitted to the brotherhood. One black ball and the candidate would be, well, blackballed. This system ensured uniformity among the brotherhood, giving the each fraternity a unique character.

14. lookyloo
    November 30th, 2006 at 9:55 am

    Voting box for sure.

15. Jimbo
    November 30th, 2006 at 10:36 am

    Now you guys probably have an idea where the term “Black Box Voting” comes from.

16. Chris Barr
    November 30th, 2006 at 10:46 am

    looks like a Zune to me, HA!

17. Tiffany
    November 30th, 2006 at 11:35 am

    It’s an old bed warmer. People put in in between their sheets to keep their feet warm.

18. özi
    November 30th, 2006 at 12:29 pm

    keep your bed warm? by lighting it on fire?
    i believe the right answer has already been given by kevin on the second guess… there goes another t-shirt.

19. Anthony Garone
    November 30th, 2006 at 12:31 pm

    From that angle, it looks like the world’s first iPod/storage device.

20. mrbingly
    November 30th, 2006 at 12:45 pm

    it’s a wooden box with a handle on one end, an open space, and a funny hole on it. it can be used for voting, putting secret messages in, or storing mice for the winter when your cat might be hungry.

21. Mindy
    November 30th, 2006 at 12:56 pm

    kind of looks like a camera obscura

22. Jeff
    November 30th, 2006 at 1:25 pm

    It’s a very early cell phone prototype.

    You hold it by the handle, of course, and listen through the large earpiece. At this stage, Bell hadn’t quite worked out the microphone part on bottom.

23. hermit_man
    November 30th, 2006 at 1:46 pm

    I think it might be a toilet.

24. Brian Frost
    November 30th, 2006 at 2:41 pm

    Voting box…

25. Anton
    November 30th, 2006 at 2:57 pm

    My guess is that’s it for spooling out line from a center pull spool similar to bailing twine or a skein of yarn.

    It was common before the days of automation to run a string when planting a field to keep the rows straight.

26. Tamme H
    November 30th, 2006 at 3:02 pm

    Looks kinda like something a bird would go in - so i say Birdhouse

27. Ozmo
    November 30th, 2006 at 3:39 pm

    Id say it was a type of humane mousetrap looks old so i guess who ever invented it was more hungry then merciful =p

28. Starstonight
    November 30th, 2006 at 3:53 pm

    it’s an antique bowl…;)

29. Meghan
    November 30th, 2006 at 4:20 pm

    I say it’s a camera.

30. Deborah
    November 30th, 2006 at 7:04 pm

    It is a coffee grinder (old school)

31. Hugh G
    November 30th, 2006 at 8:13 pm

    I think it is used to sort out the long bits of wheat and the seed bits which are used for flour. So you get a whole lot of the long bits of wheat and bung it in the box, and then slide over the bit with the hole, and then shake it. And all of the seed bits are poured out when you shake it (now holding it upside down) and poured into a bowl for grinding or something into flour, and you can then feed the long wheaty bits to the cows, or your wife, or your fax machine.

32. arthur
    November 30th, 2006 at 9:25 pm

    Looks like the telephone that Doc Baker had in his office on the “Little House on the Prairie” tv series, but it probably is a blind voting machine.

33. Natasha
    December 1st, 2006 at 12:31 am

    I’m not sure but I think that this thing is used for making butter into blocks. I think I saw it in a development museum or something

34. Jimmy
    December 1st, 2006 at 7:53 am

    I think it is a Zune?

35. Charles
    December 1st, 2006 at 8:22 am

    This is obviously a primitive periscope

36. Tim
    December 1st, 2006 at 11:17 am

    Voting box used by the Free Masons. Still in use today.

37. Meg
    December 2nd, 2006 at 3:11 pm

    Looks like a game to me, where you flip a ball out of the open part like flipping a pancake, and try to catch it in the hole, you can flip towards you, or away, since the top slides back and forth. People seem pretty sure that it’s a voting box, but the description says the top slides to cover either side. If only one side is ever covered, how can that work? It just reminds me of something I’ve seen with a wiffle ball.

38. Monte
    December 3rd, 2006 at 5:18 am

    its a Fleshlight circa 1872

39. Alex
    December 4th, 2006 at 1:09 pm

    Answer from what is it?: Ballot box or blackball box, black and white marbles were kept in the open end, a white marble dropped into the hole signified a supporting vote while a black one signified a “no” vote.

    Congratulations to Kevin Register, who won this round of the game!

    I quite enjoy some of the wild guesses here. You guys are a hoot!

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