After the November Mountain States Collector went to press we had a call from John Dietrich of Westminster, Colorado. He identified the October What Is It! Yea! He tells us he, in fact, has three of them himself. It is a hot lid lifter especially for a metal lid. Thanks, John, we are so glad you were able to help […]

   This mysterious object is a netsuke. These finger-sized carvings are Japanese. This netsuke is of woven cane and is a box perhaps intended for flower petals. Although made in the 19th Century it is still in fine condition. We had no corect guesses for the September What Is It. See if you can help Sherry Gregg know what the October […]

 We had no correct answers for our August What Is It. This item is an ancient baby-feeding device. Roman terra-cotta bottles, such as the rare Third Century A.D. nurser pictured above have been uncovered, with dried milk inside, at infant burial sites. It may have been the very thing that caused the baby’s death. The mortality rate for bottle-fed children […]

Though we had several guesses for our July 2019 What Is It, we had no correct answers. Pictured above is a Japanese horse bell with iron pellet clappers. Many desirable animal bells came from Switzerland prized for their musical quality and porcelain bells from France and Austria were valued for their beauty. In other European countries a glazed pottery called […]

  We had one correct answer to our June’s What Is It. Jack T. Briggs of Denver, Colorado correctly identified the vehicle as a Dodge Power Wagon used by the Waco Fire Department. Congratulations! You have won a year’s subscription to the Mountain States Collector.    The Dodge M37 ​3⁄4-ton 4×4 truck (G741) was Dodge’s follow-up to their successful WC Series from […]