Until
you've
loved an animal and been loved in
return,
there's a place in your heart that you've never known!
I
had no idea what this was when Donna brought it home. I learned
that this is a scoop or rake for harvesting cranberries from a flooded
cranberry bog.
This one was made by J. O. Wilcox & Son of Woonsocket, Rhode
Island, for sale by Ruggles, Norse & Mason of Boston,
Massachusetts. This farm supply company, most famous for its
plows, used this name during the 1837-1849 time period.
From all appearances this is fully original with metal tines, metal
splines to reinforce wood sides, octagonal white ash handle, and
stenciled maker's marks.
I learned that the flowers of the cranberry look like cranes, hence the
name "crane berry."