The egg she has laid is maple and hard as a tenpenny nail and smooth as a board..."

--excerpt from "A Wooden Darning Egg," from The Carpentered Hen and Other Tame Creatures, Poems. By John Updike, copyright 1958, Harper & Brothers Publishers.

Darn, readers had me in stitches with their comments last week. No fewer than 4 people had the right guess of "wooden darning egg;" erksnerks, Lisa Bashert, suem, and Cindy Heflin, It was heartening to learn that this thift-promoting artifact is not such a mystery, even in an age of cheap socks! One commenter even went out of her way to buy, and use, an antique darning egg, at the Salt City antique shop, at 115 W. Michigan Avenue.

This week, however, we have a real challenge--something that has utterly and completely disappeared from use. This artifact is about a yard long and may be found on the second floor of the Ypsilanti Historical Museum. The tip is the important bit, so I here include a close-up of the tip.

This item is now truly obscure, thanks to technological advances. I'll be impressed if anyone guesses it. Take your best guess and good luck!

WINNER'S LIST: 8/3/09: erksnerks 8/10/09: Larissa 8/17/09: no winner 8/24/09: erksnerks, (2) 8/31/09: erksnerks, (3); Larissa, (2) 9/7/09: no winner; honorable mention to goblue18 9/14/09: erksnerks (4), Larissa (3), Janice A., Edward V. 9/21/09: a2dancelady, Mark Maynard, Creative Use of an Orangutan award to Lisa Bashert 9/28/09: erksnerks (5), Lisa Bashert (1.5), suem, Cindy Heflin,

Mystery Artifact is published every Monday on AnnArbor.com.