Mysterious Vintage Wooden Mold
A few days ago I wrote about some of my recent vintage finds. One of those items was this intriguing wooden pumpkin-shaped piece. Bonus: It was a steal!
I’ve given it a rub-down with Howard’s Feed-N-Wax, one of my go-to products for treating dried out wood. Below you can see its original condition.
Pretty dull and dried out right?
A little rub down with Howard’s, and now it has a warm luster that commands,
“Pick me up! Touch me! Don’t I feel great?!”
You may remember that the two halves come apart, leading me to believe that it’s some sort of mold. Perhaps for soap? The exterior seems rather fancy for that though. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter.
It certainly displays things nicely, doesn’t it?
The Parcheesi pieces look nice against the wood.
As do the mini sea urchins and the lichen.
As you can see, I’m thoroughly enjoying this piece.
I love the wood, its color and its feeling in my hand.
And the mystery, I love the mystery, too.
Bye for now,
I do so love this piece too friend! It is perfect for your displays and you did such a wonderful job restoring it…..hmmmmm…I wonder what it was used for?!?! To me it sits perfectly as it is…just so pretty! I hope that you have a wonderful weekend! Nicole xoxo
I am tempted to keep it…we'll see!
It is so pretty. I've not idea what it is but that's kind of fun also!
That's a big part of the fun, isn't it–discovering the history of a piece 🙂
That's so incredibly pretty, but super handy too! Beautifully done!
Thanks Heather!
This piece is intriguing. I'm thinking it was created as a decorative piece to look like a pumpkin, but then the "sculptor" decided to give it more character or interest so they split it and scooped it out for keeping small treasures. You know, how sometimes a porcelain piece opens up to be a ring keeper? How could you do research on it to find out? It is certainly unique and lovely. You are lucky to have found it! Rosie @ The Magic Hutch
Yes, I know the pieces you're describing. I've also seen other wooden contraptions that have a "surprise" way of opening, but they tend to be newer. I'm thinking about sending it into Country Living's website. They do evaluations there, just like in the magazine. Thanks for stopping by Rosie 🙂
It's amazing the difference that "Howard's" stuff made. Good luck figuring out the use, Country Living is a good idea. Thank you for sharing this at History & Home this week, take care. Dawn @ We Call It Junkin.com
I love Howards! Have been looking into selling it via my blog. I just bought some Johnson's paste wax and am anxious to see how that works/looks. Blessings!
I've been browsing your blog today & came across this post from last spring. I love a good mystery! Did you ever discover what this is? I wonder if it could be an unusual butter mold?