I found this at a yard sale but had no idea what it was

The Thrill of the Yard Sale Find
It started like most Saturday mornings.

Coffee in hand. Casual drive through neighborhood streets. Handwritten cardboard signs reading:

“Garage Sale →”
“Everything Must Go”
“Estate Sale – Cheap!”
I wasn’t looking for anything specific. In fact, that’s usually when the best finds happen.

On one folding table near the back of a driveway, tucked between mismatched silverware and a stack of yellowed magazines, I noticed it.

It was:

Heavy.
Made of metal and wood.
Slightly rusted.
Clearly old.
And completely unfamiliar.
It wasn’t decorative enough to be obvious décor.
It wasn’t modern enough to be recent.
It wasn’t broken—but I couldn’t tell what it did.Naturally, I bought it.

Why We Buy Things We Don’t Understand
Before we get into what the object actually was, let’s talk about something interesting:

Why do we feel drawn to mysterious objects?