Featured What is this wooden piece?

Any idea what that is?

 

oKKKK….sock darner...a Finial of some sort?

 

Some kind of a rattle ??? .. Joy.

 

My first thought was also sock darner, other than that I haven't a clue.

 

Ring holder.

 

By the way, it can’t stand upright because of the rounded and pointy bottom.

 

Decorative fruit? It sort of looks like it may have broken off (or been glued to) something on the knobby base part in the photo. Does it look like that in real life?

 

Oh, for simpler times. It's a child's top.
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Not sure if there was something on the very bottom.

 

A woodturner/carver's tour-de-force, something fun to make on a lathe.
Spin it, like a top; I suspect it will do an amusing trick, where it starts spinning with the narrow stem upwards; then as it spins, it reverses, until it is standing on the stem, still spinning. There used to be plastic toy tops of a similar design, hemispherical on the bottom, with a narrow stem. Lots of fun to watch them reverse positions while spinning.
Give it a try.

 

Does it seem to be solid or does it rattle as some have suggested? My first thought goes along with what others have said, a sock darner. But it seems a little big for that. As for a spinning top, the point is too long and it would be top heavy to spin. At least that's what it looks to me. If it rattles then I'd think it would be a child's rattle. But if not, then what about a fennel of some sort. It looks like it has iron attached, so it could be a fennel even for inside a castle. Just tossing out ideas....

 

I repeat, try spinning it, fast; see if it does the reversal trick - the long stem is actually helpful for that type of top, as is the spherical bottom. None of INH's tops are of that type, sometimes called "headstand" tops, though they are nice.
Here's a video showing that reversal; it only works at higher speeds:

 

"Known as sakatachikoma in Japanese or headstand spinning tops - these wooden tops reverse as you spin them." Of course, if the interesting item above does not do the reversal, even when spun fast, then I'm totally wrong.

 

It's been years since I spun a top with a string...those were the days....

 

I still have a green wooden one that was passed down to me from my older brother. The string is a heavy cord. Now I think I might have to go up in the attic and find it and use it!