What is It? Game 7.

Is this a cutter for cutting sugar off a sugar loaf?

A figure 8 for ropes

Maybe something that you hook something through but can pull out quickly, so maybe like a blacksmith has something hot he hangs it on that and can just yank it down when its done.

It seems like a an ornate Coat Rack....

or some kind of holder. Probably not a coat rack :D

The mechanism is clearly pliers-like, with a rubber band to keep it shut, and the board looks like it mounts vertically on a wall...

Pure conjecture.

Some mechanism to open nuts?

A Nut opener or Nut breaker or nut cracker... I don´t know how can I say it in English.

Or maybe it´s something completely different. :S

It is a chicken clamp. This would be mounted on a wall and there should be a leather strap in place of the rubber band. You would put a chicken's neck in the clamp and secure it with the leather strap and then pluck and gut the chicken.

Seems to be a blade holder used to cut fishes/vegetables/stuff in most parts of South Asia.

I think it's an ironing board of some sort; you would put the neck of the shirt in the pressurized clamp part of it, and then the shirt would lay on the board and you could iron it.

Oops. I'm a little late. Someone's already said what I was going to say - a nutcracker.

I agree on the nutcracker.

To hold a fish while you clean it???

A ceiling fan blade

A boot jack? You stand on the board, and use the fancy metal part to pull your boots off (or on, using the clamp part...)

--TwoDragons

Looks upside-down to me. Is it an armrest from a chair? Part of a desk perhaps?

it's a fan blade for a ceiling fan!

I think it's an elaborate door handle or maybe a knocker for your front door.

I would say that Laurie Georgeson is more or less correct.

This does indeed resemble something very commonly used for ironing, but it was not used with an iron since it is from a time when the iron was not yet a household item. Instead you used it in conjunction with a round stick used to roll the fabric. The idea is to smooth linen.

In Norwegian this is known as a "Mangletre", from the German "mangelen" (which I suppose means "mangle") and the Norwegian "tre" ("wood"). It was common for a bride groom to offer one of these beauties to his new bride as a gift. Lucky girls. You would get quite a workout from using these.

here in Norway they are nearly always decorated with a handle shaped like a horse. I have never seen a fancy moving metal handle like this before. Don't know it's function.

It's a ceiling fan paddle

I think it is a kind of handcuffs.

i agree with the door knocker

I think when ALLEN Says:
It is a chicken clamp. This would be mounted on a wall and there should be a leather strap in place of the rubber band. You would put a chicken’s neck in the clamp and secure it with the leather strap and then pluck and gut the chicken.
if he is not right he is pretty close if not right on the spikes on the clamp mean for the animal or item to e held so yeah it could also be used for skinning

It is a fan blade.

Used for holding fish so you can filet them....

Its a wedge for holding a door open.

No no no... It is a device that keep window opened. Without it, the wind makes the window to knock.

It is a tobacco cutter. Used for leaf tobacco in local stores a looong time ago. Saw one on the Antiques Roadshow once.

I also think it's a bootjack.

It's a very fancy and ornate plane, used to shave wood.

i think its a fish scaler.

maybe it was used on old ships...where the metal part clamps around the necks of wine bottles to prevent them from falling during rough sailing conditions

Oooh, this is a hard one, apparently.

It's not a: nutcracker, coat rack, chicken clamp, fish holder, ceiling blade fan, boot jack, door handle, window or door anything, ironing board part, or a wood plane.

Now, a hint is in order: vegetable cutter is close, but not quite correct. Think along this path and the t-shirt can be yours.

Rob of What is It? blog and I will call it on 1/12/07.

Its a boot jack..

How about a coconut husker?

Fruit peeler?

It's a flag holder

Looks like a tomato (or other veggie) crusher for sauces and salves and things.

hat holder

Corn husker?

It's an old time mellon baller.

..or a corn Sheller, whatever you choose to call it.

Guessed right by withvous, just in the nick of time! It's a corn sheller. There's even a patent on it: Patent 99106.

Lol. I thought it was one of these. Oh well. Good job Withveous! http://www.wendelboe.no/kunst/auksjoner/2004/4_04/images/59.jpg