Its a cast iron... something

[Tallone]

It's a cast iron... something

I picked this up this morning at a yard sale. The seller put a tag on it saying it was for carrying a lit piece of coal. But, as I was talking to him about it, he backed off of that description and admitted he didn't really know what it was and started speculating that maybe it was one of those incense burners Catholics use (I think they call it a "thurible"). Here is a picture of it:



It is sitting on the dash board of my truck so that will give you some sense of scale. It is roughly the size of your fist. The sphere separates into two pieces at the equator. There are tabs on the two hemispheres that allow the halves to lock together if you twist one half slightly. There is a loop at the top for attachment of a rope or chain to carry it. There are no markings of any kind that I can find.

Any ideas what this might be? TIA

 

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[DiggerB]

Maybe one of those things they used to use to hold wrapping twine? String cones out one of the holes and the ball unrolled in the holder? Just a guess

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[unclemac]

yep...it is for holding a ball of twine or string...we had one as a kid...yours is a reproduction made in the 70's

 

[Tallone]

yep...it is for holding a ball of twine or string...we had one as a kid...yours is a reproduction made in the 70's

Thanks for the info. How can you tell a reproduction from an original?

 

[unclemac]

I actually might take that back....is it black, black or is it more like bare metal...I can't tell.

 

[Tallone]

I would say it was painted black at some point in time. There are some spots were the paint is missing and the metal is rusting. Here is what appears to be an identical one that recently sold on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Cas.../231164331473?pt=Folk_Art&hash=item35d277c5d1

The one above sold for $46 but I saw several others just like this one that sold for as low as, I think, $10 and all points in between. Thanks for the help!