Weird laboratory object

[ffutures]

Someone at another school has found this and is trying to identify it - I've checked a 1927 biology catalogue and a 1952 chemistry catalogue with no success, but maybe someone here has an idea what it is. It's made of earthenware, and the wide part (at the bottom, but for all I know it's intended to be at the top) is 10.5cm wide. The top bit that looks like a handle is solid, not hollow, so it isn't a funnel.

My guess is something like a cover for a drain or some sort of jar, but does anyone know for sure?

Comments

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Turn it upside down and drop it into a matching-shaped funnel (extending up around it) and it could almost be the upper part of some sort of fine powder mill?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I did actually think of that one but I was thinking more in terms of something going inside it, like a specialised pestle. I'll have to check if it's glazed inside, that might be a clue.

[whswhs.livejournal.com]

I have to say my first thought from looking at it was that it looked upside down. But it would need some sort of geometrically complementary receptacle, such as the funnel you mention. Without knowing what that receptacle was, it's going to be hard to figure out its function.

[draconin.livejournal.com]

My first reaction was that it was the equivalent of a witch's hat warning bollard from before plastics became commonplace. ie Plonk a row of them down with flags on them to cut off a road or mark off a small area.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Doubt it - they used to be made of rubber, I think.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Is the central spindle hollow?

And it looks like it has rotary scarring, so we can assume whatever it was it used to be be fitted snugly inside something else and turned?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

No, it's solid. I noticed the scarring, but I really can't visualize what it would fit into.

[uk-sef.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I've seen one of those before - presumably in another lab. (or museum!). Unfortunately, that doesn't mean I know its function.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

If it comes to you let me know! Preferably with a link.

[dsample.livejournal.com]

I've got the same feeling