What is This?

Excuse my rhyme: "It's a snare for a grizzly bear!"

That wouldn't be one of Hooker's kinky whips would it?

It's a buggy whip for a flea circus. Or a widget catcher for an obsolete widget factory that is redundantly obsolete.

Buggy whip?

Why would you whip a buggy?

The buggy whips you...

This is a vinegarroon, found in desert areas. Very common in SE New Mexico. They get to be 6-8" long with the tail; eat bugs; look nasty but are harmless. They excrete a vinegar fluid when you mess with them.

While you think they are harmless, do not let them bite you. You may find out otherwise. It is said do not allow the bite victims to fall asleep, as they may never re-awaken.

It's a lizard loop for catching Iguanas....

Dog catcher?

Jumbo cable tie?

A heart surgery catheter loop

You use by placing the loop over "it" and tightening the loop of course.

Your old dog 'Blues" first collar.....

A tail rope for shark fishing.

An external diameter tape measure.

Opps, it's a circumference measure tape.

Hold that joke up for pi day.

It is the first belt you had as a young man to hold up your zoot pants...

I dunnow!

It was used when you strapped the mouth shut of gators you use to wrassle for a living years ago when you were known as Crazy Joe...

Is it something to do with lassoing/capturing an animal?

This hoop was used by your great great great grandfather to measure head size for fitting hats, he was known as the original mad hatter....they called him Mad Joe...

Clue please.

Is it hanging on your wall to be handy for quick use, or is it an ornament, or memento of a past life, or lost youth.....??

OK, time for a clue. It was used extensively before wireless communication became available. I recently saw an example of its use in an old movie.

It is made of bamboo and it is tied together with some fairly heavy wire that also provides the functionality of the device.

It was used for communication but has been replaced by radio.

It is part of a semaphore paddle without the colored cloth. Maybe you used to "call the ball" on a flight deck?

It used to be mine... How did you get that????

Bag holder for train mail. Squab wrangler. Whomppin' stick.. ?

It's a funny looking pen . meh

Close, but not quite right.

I'm curious why you have got one on your wall, but in absence to an answer to my previous request, I guess it has some historical value to you, and if before radios could it be to do with communication -perhaps pigeon post - a pigeon snare?

Or is your clue cryptic. Designed to throw me off the track.

Loop for grabbing dispatches from a moving train?

Yes, you are correct. Solar Eagle really nailed it as usual, but I hope my clues had something to do with it.

We inherited it from my mother-in-law but weren't really sure what it really was until we saw it used in "Shanghai Express" (film, 1932).

So, it really is a piece of technology, just very old. Telegraphs were passed to passengers on board as well, but it was probably more often used to pass information to the train operators.

It might not look like technology, but it was for its time.

Never seen one before but I'd heard of them, just crossed my mind as soon as I read JE's post.

A Pony Express riding crop?

Telegraph loop. used for a portable telegraph between Stations.

Oh my, I didn't know that the OP was into S&M.....

I'm thinking from your one clue that it is the loop used to pull telegraph (and later, telephone) wires down to the level where they could be clipped into by a portable send/receive set. I still have a homemade telephone "butt-set" which I used to use while troubleshooting telephone installations. Allowed me to clip onto an unused (at least for the moment) telephone pair and dial out (Not in, cause I was on it now. Think extension phone the owner doesn't know he is hosting.) on to talk to the maintenance operator. Yes, it was also usable by 2600 hackers. Of which I was not (at least, not publicly) one.

We'd use it to pull the lines down to where we could reach them, knowing that when we released them, they'd spring back to nearly their original hang, with no one noticing any new "slack" in them, due to the strength-member pulling them back into place.

..."Such hard usage renders the life of ordinary holders short"...

...not to mention the life of ordinary trainmen. LOL

But that is how things used to get done.

Nice work finding the patent, old chap.

Your research is impressive GA.

If SolarEagle has not given the right answer, you have got some serious explaining to do.

...and I am still puzzled why you have one hanging on your wall......why?

You have to have one ready to grab in case a train comes by and you have an urgent message to send!

He was right! And I have no idea why it is on my wall. You would have to get that answer from my wife! I don't do decoration!

" He was right! And I have no idea why it is on my wall. You would have to get that answer from my wife! I don't do decoration "

That's OK. Can you pass a message on to your wife...to say a CR4 reader is curious....