Napoleonic & ECW wargaming, with a load of old Hooptedoodle on this & that


Monday 31 August 2015

Hooptedoodle #189 - Mystery Object


The Contesse has received this item through the mail - we think it may have been a runner-up prize in a competition of some sort. I was interested that such a thing existed - a knick-knack - yet another solution for a problem the world never knew it had.

It may well be screamingly obvious, but would anyone like to guess what it is? It is hollow, made of plastic, the top pops off, the bottom is perforated (for ventilation), you can hang it up by the string if you wish (no idea why anyone would wish). It is not a decoration, and has nothing to do with wasps. I included a ruler to give the size. The white bits in the picture are simply the reflected flash. There may well be a factory somewhere churning these things out by the million.

No prizes, not even runner-up prizes, but I thought I'd run this photo here to see if anyone thinks it is more useful than I do.

10 comments:

  1. Some sort of air-freshener? Hang it in your cupboard full of pot puri to kill the moths?

    In any case, surely she came far lower down the prize list than second?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Or you could use it as a dice tidy...

    ReplyDelete
  3. An apple-guard? To store ones apple safely in transit. Can't figure out the string though.
    Garden centres and the like sell similar contraptions for bananas.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ppot potpourri container would be my guess

    ReplyDelete
  5. I would go for a pomander; a ball or perforated container of aromatic substances carried to ward of noxious smells or originally diseases.

    Had you received it from another wargamer its use would be obvious but nevertheless I think we can assume it is meant to be carried or worn around the neck at wargames shows.

    I should combine it with a metal weighted cane in order to clear a path between the rucksacks and you are home and dry.

    John

    ReplyDelete
  6. ok, prior to reading John's comment I would have joined the pot porri faction, probably sold with apple & cinnimon scent or similar, but now....no surely wargame show version would be die shaped?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Martin emailed to say that he thinks it is a thing you hang up over a baby's cot so that it may look at it and poke it. I suppose you could do that, but it might not be a great experience for the baby.

    Now Martin is always very pernickety about my views and my wargaming preferences, so I feel it is only correct if I respond by saying that this is by far the most stupid of all the suggestions to date, though I am, of course, grateful for a man of his stature stooping to take part.

    Many thanks, Martin.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The thing sure looks like an apple, but I agree with some of the comments: it is some sort of air-freshening device - a pot-pourri holder or similar. You might try sticking in some dried apple and cinnamon, and see how that works out hung up in a corner of a room.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I have no idea (other than those previously mentioned) but what an absolutely excellent example of how to waste the planets finite resources... hats off to whoever designed it.... :o)

    ReplyDelete