Urban Archeologist: Guess The Gadget

In this edition of the “Urban Archeologist” I share one of the many gadgets I have come across. Take a look at the images and see if you can guess. I will reveal its purpose at the end of the article.

It started on an Autumn Saturday when members of a friendly Brookfield family greeted us at the door. Like an introduction, they explained that their mother (living) is an artist and their grandfather (deceased) owned an apothecary in New York City. The sale was a collection of their things representing over 100 years of accumulation and it was spread all around the house. My eight-year-old daughter and I began digging. She attempted to type the great American novel on a 75-year-old Remington, while I poured over books and apothecary-type odds and ends.

Among the items was a gadget. It was 6" x 2.5" and 3" high, cast iron and weighs about 1.5 pounds. There were no markings other than a vague label on the front. ”The lever" was either the business or the manufacturer's "model" name for what ever this was.

Buying items when you don't know what they are is risky and I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, especially if the "hoarder" gene runs in your family tree (that would be the branch that still has all its leaves — including the ones from the other braches). For the terminally curious like me, this purchase was no problem and I also enjoy the art of the deal. 

The family members running the sale had some idea of what it was, "Well, we think it is some kind of paper-fastener." I started the haggle by asking the important question: "How much?" The price started randomly at $10, but without knowing its origin my response is, "How about $5?" "How about $7?" was the counter-offer. I backed off by saying that I knew it wasn't a paper-fastener. I had tried it out and it didn’t fasten anything. 

The good-natured banter that comes when you are haggling over price helps both sides understand each other better. Seeing that I wasn’t trying to rob them of a family treasure, they finally accepted my offer. The trick to haggling is to get the other side to start the bidding. With your own hi-lo price in mind, you might be surprised where the haggling begins and know when to walk away. 

The answer to this week’s “guess-the-gadget?” — It’s a vintage check protector. In order to keep checks from being cashed more than once, many elaborate devices were invented to permanently mark, or in this case, mar the paper.  A deft auditor or bank employee could tell from the raised bumps this device would cause, and know that the check had already been cashed.  There is a great site called Early Office Museum that has many check protectors in their archives. None were an exact match for this one but it led me to identifying its purpose.

As for its true age… that remains a mystery. I continue to search through Google's scanned ads from the late 19th century hoping for a match.

Greg Van Antwerp is a Brookfield resident and blogger, who can be found on the weekends in search of a good “dig” or a good story.  You can read more about his adventures by visiting his blog.