MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Gloria]

Not a clue Stanley

[Stanley]

I forgot to look Gloria. The object is a bronze segment that was part of a Universal Metallic Packing on the piston rod of a steam engine. They stopped leakage but didn't wear the rod like normal packing in a stuffing box would.
Now we need another object!

[Stanley]

What is it?

[PanBiker]

A large cotter pin?

[Stanley]

Correct Ian. Well done!
Now we need another object....

[Stanley]

What is it?

[Stanley]

No takers? These used to be a very common domestic item.....

[Wendyf]

It's a dolly blue bag!

[Stanley]

Spot on! Well done Wendy.... The earlier ones had a wooden post in the middle to hold while you swirled it in the rinse water.....
Now we need another object!

[Stanley]

Which trade used this tool?

[Gloria]

Farriers, to deal with clinches.

[Stanley]

Straight in there! Yes Gloria, I forgot you were a horse woman!
Can we have another object?

[Stanley]

What is special about this flagpole?

[Gloria]

Can it be moved about?

[Stanley]

No Gloria, it's a permanent fixture at Anfield football ground.....

[Big Kev]

It's from the SS Great Eastern?

[Stanley]

That was the accepted story for a long time but now there is another narrative, that it came from the royal yacht Alexandra. (LINK)
However you have it right so now we need another object.

[Stanley]

What is it?

[Gloria]

Some type of key?

[Stanley]

Almost but not quite. You've seen it before, it's textile trade related.

[PanBiker]

Is it for threading the yarn through the shuttle eye once wound, (instead of sucking it through)?

[Tripps]

That looks like a military pose for the photo, and there was a fashion once for cool instructors to add a grenade pin to the zip on their uniform jackets - but nowt to do with the textile trade so I give up.

***********
That was the accepted story for a long time but now there is another narrative, that it came from the royal yacht Alexandra

That made me smile - having worked in Liverpool for four years - they can't even agree which ship it was nicked from. Must have been a challenge to get it out of the dock gates. Rely on your stereotypes - they don't come from nowhere.

[Stanley]

Sorry, not for threading shuttles. More repetitive than that and warp related, not weft.