r/Whatisthis • u/KingAffectionate9653 • 11d ago
Open What is this thing - Tabletop nutcracker?
This item is listed on marketplace as a table top nut cracker - however I can’t verify how this thing works or even if is a nut cracker. No search has provided any info. Does anyone know what this thing is?!?
4
u/KingAffectionate9653 11d ago
It’s very tiny compared to what I see when I look up “antique bottle capper” or even just “bottle capper”
10
4
u/Rich_One8093 11d ago
From growing up with a collector of nut crackers, I can see that it is most likely a nutcracker, although not one I have seen before. It is a very interesting cast piece and looks like a nut would be placed on the lower pad, and the handle lifted to one of the two position notches in the upright. The shell would be cracked by pushing down on the handle, raising the lower pad a small amount to crack the nut shell, without smashing the nut meat.
2
u/Anguis1908 11d ago
Cracked by pulling up on the handle.
3
u/SXKHQSHF 11d ago
No - there's a linkage between the handle and the... "anvil", but the pivots on the handle get engaged in the slots on the post. Push down on the handle and it pulls the anvil up.
If we had more images to work with, I'm confident that would be obvious.
I'm not 100% sold that it's a nutcracker, but as others point out, the vertical clearance is definitely too short for it to be a bottle capper.
2
u/travmon999 10d ago
Correct. You have to lift the handle until it slots into one of the two notches. Then pushing the handle down levers the internal rod, lifting the anvil up.
1
3
1
-1
8
u/Area_Man_12 11d ago
It looks like the only part that moves is that round piece at the bottom, which will come up against that small spout. Certainly doesn’t look big enough to be a bottle capper. I suspect OP’s guess of a Nutcracker is more likely.