A Third 'What in the World is it?'

Last week's respondent Susan Stern correctly identified the second item in this series of "What in the World is it?" posts as a rotary phone dialer, often used when the caller's nails or hands were wet. (Please e-mail us, Susan, through our website at: http://www.mshhistsoc.org/ .Click on Contact Us in the lower right, as our regular email address is down for a bit. We would like to send you one of the specially-made, new Sharpie pens with a custom Millburn text on it. You are also welcome to pick it up at the museum.)

Telephone dialers came in countless designs and the museum has a small collection of dialers in the shape of hands, with a plastic magnifying glass attached, etc. The 1959 ad here shows two higher-end, sterling telephone dialers.

The advertising dialer shown in the prior post is marked with the address of the Millburn business Jacquie's Place. A 1981 directory at the Millburn Library website shows Jacquie's Place Nail Care still in business at that same address in Millburn.

We will use this blog to highlight unusual objects at the Millburn-Short Hills Historical Society museum. The objects will be posted with only minimal information, so we encourage you to guess what the object is or what its purpose was. The following week, information about the object will be revealed and a new object will be posted.

This week's item from the historical society museum is cast iron and about 5 inches high X 5 inches wide. Can you guess what it is?

The first person with a correct guess will receive a brand new, custom black Sharpie pen marked with a flag and "Happy July Fourth; Millburn N.J." The first person who correctly identifies the item may contact us at mshhs@comcast.net, to let us know whether to mail the pen or expect a visit to the museum (feel free to pick it up).

[Many thanks to Millburn High School volunteer Anna Gracey for scanning the objects and composing this introduction.]