Featured Unidentified Furniture Object. (UFO)

Before anyone gets carried away here, the next one for sale at Copake auctions
( they specialize in bicycles) sold for $150 on 3 bids

 

Yes, you should join. It is free, and a useful resource to look up values.

The last three that anund posted sold for $150, $125, and $125. These are more recent, all from 2019 (the other one is an older auction result).

 

Yowza! Thank you, just don’t think I can part with it...

 

I wonder what the label says on the one from liveauctioneers in the third photo. I tried to englarge it and or enhance it without any luck.

 

Dunno, tried here but it just made text fuzzy, i don't think Copake is as nice an example as OP, no carving for one thing

 

i opened it as much as I dared to, kinda tight. If you look at my finger, there is an opening above it and the crossbar could open more; my finger’s width more. It only opens on the left hand side, not the right. Hope that helps.

 

One thing i notice is, these things ( whatever they are) were made by a skilled wood worker, the joinery is sophisticated, not just tossed together the way many primitives are.

 

Surely it's a manger? It hung on a wall of the byre, and was filled with hay, intended for the nourishment of cows, but occasionally subverted by dispossessed Israelites as a cradle. No idea of the date, but unlikely to be as much as 2000 years old.

 

AKA a hay rack.
Given that it's only 21" long, perhaps not for cows at that. Goats come in quite diminutive versions ...
About the date, I notice that the round cross-section bars that would hold the hay are wood -- am I right? So that suggests it was made when / where metal would have been an expensive material. It doesn't look like there are any screws or nails either.
I'm still holding out for an age less than bimillennial, though.

 

There are no screws or nails. It is all mortise and tenon and doweled.

 

I think if you look at the wear marks on the different examples we have located, it is not indicative of anything. Across the front cross bar is one place, but Deb's has it under the back bar, possibly from being held by pegs, and the one above shows wear on the back side, possibly from rubbing against the wall? Every single dish rack I have seen is straight wood so you can get the 90 degree-ish angle to hold the plates. All the hat racks that are wooden are much thicker and much more sturdy looking? Why would it need to release part of it from the main form? You don't want to dump out the dishes?
And the fact that there are two sets of "feet"...the live auctioneers one looks like the piece was resting on the back feet. I just feel like we are missing something...and the fact that the sellers have not been able to elaborate on what it is or what it is used for, seems to indicate that they really don't know, either.
Does anyone see where I am coming from? Or, perhaps it is just my thinking and I will obsess about it silently until a concrete and definitive answer is found and demonstrated. Either way, I have not given up.

 

Lol! Thank you for being persistent! I am so enjoying this forum; not something I’ve ever been part of, but I am so glad I joined. I truly appreciate all your opinions and research.

 

On the "form follows function" basis, could this be a farmhouse towel basket and rack? Kitchen or bath. Modern version?

 

Uh huh! could very well be!