Mystery object -- what is it?

We (Gordon and I) don't know either.

These photos show an item used on the Lewis & Clark expedition. The object is about 3 feet long and is made entirely of wood. Despite being in a museum display case, it was accompanied by no placard or other identifying remarks.

Disclaimer: no bears, smiling or otherwise, were harmed in the photographing of this object.

Does anyone remember an old game show called the Liar's club?� It featured a panel of celebrities who were handed an object.� The object was passed from one to the next and each gave their own plausible descriptions of the object and its function.� The contestants then chose which of the four descriptions was the correct one.� I don't remember the final round... but the show was hilarious, especially when Richard Dawson was on the panel. :-)

My first thought was that it was some type of auger.� But after the second photo, the angle doesn't look quite right... and it's made of wood.� Wooden augers don't make sense.

I suppose that means that my answer is no.� But now I'm curious.

My first thought was that it was some type of auger. But after the second photo, the angle doesn�t look quite right... and it�s made of wood. Wooden augers don�t make sense.

Precisely.�

It was in a case with a peace pipe, a bottle of smoking herbs -- which go with the pipe --� and a Jefferson honorary medallion.� It was the only unidentified object in the case.�

Much -- but not all -- of the focus of the exhibit was�medical situations and remedies on the trail.�� In that area there's no clear tie-in�for any of the other objects in the case, so I don't think it's likely to be a doctor's tool either.

I used to love that show. Dick Gautier, what a guy.

Reminds me of part of some student intelligence competition thing: I think it was Academic Decathlon, where you were handed a piece of something and you had to collectively determine a use for it.� One year, it was a piece from an electric dishwasher.� Weird.

Looks like an auger to me. Note the hole in the flat piece on the left side for a handle.

I vote for auger.

It looks to me like a pipe stem. Having travelled in Indian circles quite a bit, I've seen a few pipes which looked approximately like this...except they generally had a pipestone bowl that plugged in to where the flat end is on this one.

You didn't ask a docent while you were there?

There weren't any docents or anyone else to ask. Our other theory was far my interesting anyway.

Actually, that's the thought that occured to me this morning, since the "peace pipe" was displayed below it.� The "peace pipe" was made of clay (or something�that color�--� could be pipestone), about�8 inches long,�and I think it may actually have been the bowl part of the pipe with a short stem, which could have been inserted in that flat-end�hole to make a really dramatic ceremonial piece.�

We couldn't get a clear look at the�ends of the mystery thing to figure out whether it had a smoke-drawing hole running the length of the corkscrewy part or not.

And no, there were no docents.� And for that matter no guards to point out that no, we weren't allowed to take pictures.� Neither of us saw the little sign that said we couldn't ... until we were leaving the museum.� *chagrin*

I didn't put up the full picture we took for size reasons, but later today I'll crop the "peace pipe" part and you can see if it looks like they go together.�

Okay, here's a bigger picture of all the contents of the case, including the "peace pipe" (which might just be the bowl), @8" wide; the "bottle of smoking herbs", @ 6 inches high, and the Jefferson medallion, which was maybe 3-4 inches across.

Now that mystery object #1 may be identified as part of a peace pipe, I'm wondering how the Jefferson medallion fits in. Maybe it was a gift to tribal leaders they encountered on the expedition, as an offering of friendship.

of some kind. I think there's a piece missing, a bar you'd slip through the hole in the handle and use to turn it. I'm not sure exactly what you'd use it to drill for, though.

*random guess*

Ice, perhaps? for ice fishing?

-- Pauley

I'd have to agree that it's an auger -- made out of wood because it's lighter, perhaps (though iirc they took literally *tons* of supplies with them, so what's a few pounds on a drill?); warped due to poor handling in the last couple hundred years?

If it's for ice fishing, that could explain the pointy other end -- chip out a start with one end, flip it around and start drilling?

It may be something usually made out of metal, but they made it out of wood (even though it would be less effective) in the interest of lightness. Also, if they dropped it in the water it would float, not sink like a metal whatever-the-hell-it-is, which kind of supports the ice auger theory.

It's a primitive form of an anal probe! Just ask Cartman!

hahaha!� pretty much what we thought.�

I can't remember the name but isn't it a thing to get water out of the ground?

You're thinking of an Archimedes screw, which is a corkscrew shaped device inside a tube. This ain't it.

I can almost hear Lister and Rimmer trying to explain to Cat what a Stasis Leak is.

"Oh you mean a magic doorway?� why didn't you say so?"

looks to me like just one giant swizzle-stick.

I can't believe that nobody has come up with our solution. Lori and I decided it was a sex toy. Of course we had just been looking at hobbity pics of Lewis and Clark and felt that would appreciate it.

ssshhhh!

aw, man, now they'll know we're preeverts.

and they didn't know that before.� um.�

But sex toy was so obvious no one felt they had to specify it

Gah!� It looks more like a drill bit than a sex toy...wouldn't that hurt?� :P

I hate to say this but you were the one we were sure was going to say "Sex Toy."

OH the credibility train on THAT statement left the station long ago, pr0nmonger. :)

It's definetly some sort of auger - albeit made of wood - for drawing water, planting seeds? or breaking a hole in the ice. No matter how strange it seems because of the material the corkscrew end is definetly an auger. :)