Any guesses as to what this odd looking item is?
If you hail from the NE area you may know that it is a lobster pot buoy. This style was used many years ago and has now mostly been replaced with a new shape. The buoys not only identified the location of the pots but also showed ownership. They came in a variety of color combinations and I am guessing this too helped the lobsterman to more quickly identify his traps. There are different sizes, this one is 36" overall, the wooden part is 24" long and 3.5" thick.
See the initials "L.A"? They stand for "Lloyd Atwood", DH's second cousin. He used to lobster fish off Brantrock, MA. and when DH was a kid he would go out on the boat and once tried to help remove the lobsters from the pots but managed to tear off the claws rendering the lobsters almost valueless so cousin Lloyd put a stop to that! 
This is a weight that was used in the pots, it's just a brick and usually three or four of these would be needed to to keep the pots on the ocean floor. We found a similar buoy for sale on the internet for $85, just for an old beaten up piece of wood, LOL
I am linking up with Vintage Thingies Thursday sponsored by Colorado Lady and Time Travel Thursday where you can find other odd treasures displayed by vintage and time traveling bloggers!
This is very interesting, I have never seen one of these before, I thought at first it was a kids ski!! Little do I know. I love to learn something new!! Happy VTT!
ReplyDeleteVery unique items. It was fun to see what these items were used for. I used a beachy theme on my post. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteInteresting thingies and information.
ReplyDeleteMy initials are LA too!
What an interesting object. Never saw them, But since we have no lobsters here, no need for them.
ReplyDeleteThat is an older design (i've vacationed in Maine and Cape Cod.)
ReplyDeleteHappy Vintage Thingie Thursday!
Very interesting! I learned something today!
ReplyDeleteVery intersting!!! New information for a non New Englander!
ReplyDeleteBeing from the northwoods of Wisconsin, I thought it was the bottom of half a cross country ski with some strange device attached!
Very interesting! Not much lobstering going on here in NE (Nebraska). I too thought of some sort of cc ski :)
ReplyDeleteBlessings!
Gail
P.S. Pop over for a visit and enter in for a SPECIAL giveaway :)
Huh...very interesting. Never saw one before.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first saw it, I thought it was the paddle that Mr Cantnor used to have hanging by his desk when I was in 6th grade.
ReplyDeleteWell, I do remember him having a Mainer "accent", so maybe Mr Cantnor was just inventive when it came to bottom whackers, eh?
That's something neat that I've never seen before!
ReplyDeleteHaPpY vInTaGe ThInGiE tHuRsDaY!
Sarah
How interesting! When you asked if we knew what it was, I didn't have a clue. :-) I always wondered how each lobster crew knew which pots were theirs. Now I know.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting...makes me think of our vacations on Prince Edward Island and hungry for lobster. :)
ReplyDeleteVery unique item. Thanks for the information!
ReplyDelete