A new 'what is it' just in case you're gettng bored with life.

[mariok54]

This won't put any zing back into your life, and it may only take some of you a nanosecond to work it out.

OK, this is only a guestimate, but it stands approx 15" high, and may be 3 - 3 1/2'  long.

The central piece, with a hole in it, slides along the length in a groove, and it will also come apart therefore widening the aperture.

It is Georgian, probably first decade of the 19th c.

What is it

[waywardangler]

Sliding porta potty?  Eliminates digging holes all the time. Fill up one section and just slide it over. 

[mariok54]

You could be sooooooooo close, Wayward, but ....?

[mariok54]

.... but ... you're not 

[waywardangler]

1810 Alabama bowling ball rest or if used in the field, cannonball or shot put rest. 

[mariok54]

When in use, and if you were really short sighted ... could be mistaken for either 

[waywardangler]

I'm not done yet...I have more...

Wash stand for a dwarf that is missing the bowl

Dog bowl holder for a Newfoundland

Melon holder to hold the melon still while you are scraping out the seeds

Carnival game...you have to put the ball through the hole to win a prize

Crab sizer/mussel sizer/produce sizer

[mariok54]

Well done Wayward ... five wrong answers in a row!

For that you get a personally autographed nasal hair (mine), so just send me $14.99 for p&p and I'll have it sent off by return!

[mariok54]

I hate to say this .. bit of a damp squib as opposed to a zingy enlivener ... but all the above are more interesting than the actual answer! 

[waywardangler]

The check is in the mail, mario! I will put it alongside my grain of rice with the Lord's Prayer on it. It should be a treasured collection and well worth the small postage charge. I shall expect it post haste. I sure hope it does not get lost in the mail. However would I make a claim for an autographed nasal hair? That would be nothing to sneeze at!

[waywardangler]

And why am I the only one guessing? 

[flablitz]

After some research I came up with this:

Antique Baby Walker

Circa 1800, and of Historic Interest, probably Welsh and fashioned from cleft ash, and with an adjustable slide to hold the baby upright, which is fixed within a sliding mechanism to allow the child movement backwards and forwards within the frame. The central section is held around the baby by ribbons or laces.

 

[mariok54]

Well done!
Exactly the same one!

[flablitz]

[waywardangler]

It is amazing that any Welsh grew past baby stage with this contraption of death.