Crates and Other Mysteries

The trailers contained a few mystery boxes: wood crates nailed tightly shut, all of them very heavy. What, we wondered, could be in them? Surely it must be something really good, something worth packing in a sturdy wood crate.

I opened two of them today. The first one was small and extremely heavy.

I brought a crowbar to pry open the lid. Turned out the lid was on too tightly for the crowbar to get any leverage, so I rummaged around and found a really nice, wood toolbox that happened to have an even nicer chisel and hammer. I used to chisel to pry open the lid just enough for the edge of the crowbar to fit, them hammered the crowbar all the way in. It took a lot of effort and time. I'm pretty sure I'll be sore later.

The reward for my efforts? Several containers of glazing compound, some paint thinner, assorted nails and bolts, a couple of cheap flashlights, and some old fuses. The cigar box is somewhat interesting.

Crate number two. This one was much easier to open, partly because I had the right tools from the get-go. There is something about a mystery box that inspires the imagination. You check the weight and try to imagine what could be inside.

Turns out this crate was full of clay plant pots, presumably my grandmother's. Five different sizes, in six stacks. My grandmother liked to have good stores of supplies.

The crates are not the only mystery items. There are also things like this "Parlor Game," devices that aren't at all familiar and aren't complete. The inexplicably-named Parlor Game has a burner in the top center, and is intended to have some sort of top component.

Fortunately, thanks to the label and with many thanks to Google Books, it took me only a minute to figure out what the Parlor Game was. I'm still not clear on why it was marketed as "Parlor Game" (other than to suggest that it belongs in a parlor), but now I know that it was an oil-fueled space heater, and I know what the missing top part looks like. Maybe it will turn up (but not in a crate!).

Advertisement in The Metal Worker, 22 September 1894.

Sam S. Utter (1829-1896) took over his father's stove business in Brooklyn and, at one point, ran for Mayor of Brooklyn on the Prohibition ticket (he didn't win). His "Parlor Game" used Plume & Atwood's "Banner" burner, giving it a local connection--Plume & Atwood were based in Waterbury.