Some of my purchases defy explanation, so does that qualify me as a mystery shopper? I am especially drawn to items that appear to be one-of-a-kind. That usually means I don’t know what they are and they don’t have identification tags and how-to-use booklets. The whole world is my department store. If an item looks intriguing, no matter that it can be picked up from the shoulder-0f-the- road outlet or from a backwoods junk pile.
One such find was so eye-catching I had to turn around in the next driveway to rescue it from the edge of the road. It was a huge, heavy, rusty spring that had dropped from the underneath of a passing rig. It would make a useful paper-sorter when it was placed sideways on my classroom desk. Reality was that I didn’t sort that many papers. I’m a stacker. Turned on its end it became an ‘objet d’art’ purely for the sake of its form and the exercise my brain got trying to fathom that spring stretching like the slinkies of my youth or moving like the ones in my ballpoint pens. When the dark side of my mind fathomed it as a potential weapon for smashing a window or cracking a skull, I moved it to a corner in my storeroom to hold a bouquet of peacock plumes, out of everyone’s sight but mine. Without a save tag, the spring eventually found its way to the same dimension that is holding the computerized folder of the rough draft of my first thesis. What a flea marketer’s fantasy…to stumble upon that corner of the universe where all things go that carry the sticker – “Wonder whatever happened to…?”
Since I have entered a phase of life that yearns for simplicity, there has been a lot of discarding, donating and discounting going on around here. The space and time I am uncovering are mind-altering. Some winters ago I sat through a two-week span without power, never remembering or noticing I had an oil lamp, complete with wick and oil and globe, all ready for shedding light on my cold space. That was a sign change was looming. My path to simplicity is traveling through a maze of nostalgia, so it’s not a route I am traveling quickly, but I’m not backtracking so I call it progress.
There is an item I want to keep. I want to use it. Surely it has form and function to justify its presence! No doubt it was mass-produced since Pyrex is stamped all over it, but I have never seen one like it. It must percolate coffee or brew tea.
Tell me what you think! May I set it on my electric stovetop? Or am I missing some sort of heating stand it goes in? And how do I get the top pot off the bottom pot? The chrome strainer looks like it should go on the bottom part for serving. Hope these photos help. Any insight anyone can share will be much appreciated! My goal is to make this mystery shopping acquisition a mystery solved!
Maybe you can find your answer on the Pyrex website: http://www.pyrexware.com. If you can’t find it by clicking around, you should at least be able to find a customer service number. Bon chance!
Thanks for the info! It has been a while since I have searched the web for clues.