Antique Toolbox: March Mystery Tool

Can you guess the March mystery tool?

Here’s March’s mystery tool—can you guess its purpose? The object’s handles measure 30 inches in length, with a 12.25-inch span between the wheels. This remarkable piece will be on display in the highly anticipated Centennial Exhibit, The Hobby that Became a Museum: Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum, 1925–2025. The special exhibition debuts on Charter Day, March 9, 2025.

If you think you know what it is, share your guess using the contact form below. Include your full name and the town where you live. Submissions are due by Monday, March 24, 2025. The correct answer will be revealed on Friday, March 28. Good luck!

---

Submission Form

For information, visit landisvalleymuseum.org.

---

February Mystery Tool

Jennifer Royer, museum curator at Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum, says that February’s mystery tool is a maple bottle corker. It has a dowel plunger and a turned handle with a wooden ferrule. The plunger is brass-capped and passes through the channel of the wooden case. It is shaped to conform to the bottle top at the base. The cross-section opening serves as a hopper for corks.

Incorrect guesses ranged from a tool for making cider or sauerkraut to a nutcracker, a fence post digger, and even a wooden slide whistle used by early 20th-century percussionists for orchestral sound effects.

Correct answers from across the United States were submitted, including Colby near Mojave, California; Bonnie Graves from Searcy, Arkansas; and Gregory Overmeyer from Strasburg, PA.

---

Never miss an edition of the Antique Toolbox – subscribe!

---