Featured Ceramic Egg-Shaped Whatsit

I have a bunch of hatpins as well and will also give it try.

The one you linked is beautiful, janet, and the hole configuration seems to be the same. Like Bev, I also think it's too short to handle the length and weight of 19 hatpins, though.

 

The base is of greater diameter on this one, which MAY mean it could be more stable...though because they called it that...doesn't mean it's correct.

 

Worthpoint doesn't filter. It only presents sold items and it's whatever the seller calls them.

 

If it were for hatpins, I think the holes would be on at least two sides, if not all the way around.

 

Well, it does work for the hatpins I have when they are placed in the upper 2 rows, not so well for the rows further down. Unfortunately I only have 5 long hatpins. The box of pins turned out to contain mostly "corsage" length pins. The egg fell forward when I put pins in the 4 holes of the third row. Now it could be that if you had enough pins to fill all the holes and only removed 1 from the top there would still be enough weight from the pins remaining in the upper holes to keep it from falling over, but I don't have enough to do that test.

 

I think the more pins you put in, the more likely it will fall over!

 

The hatpins I'm thinking about are much shorter.

 

The longer pins that I assumed were hatpins range from 4 to 5 1/2 inches long (pin only, not the pinhead.) The shorter pins that I assumed were corsage pins are about 2 1/8 inches without the pinhead. Did I assume incorrectly?

 

No, I was responding to the comment about 12 inch hatpins from earlier. Your experiments make me think this is still a puzzle.
Of course worthpoint is not a reference, but it sometimes leads to one, or an idea, which in this case didn't pan out.

 

I agree about Worthpoint. I was hopeful, thinking maybe the seller knew something we didn't. Then my experiments told me that the ID was unlikely.