What Is It? game 282

W00t! It's time for another collaboration with the ever-excellent What Is It? Blog. Can you guess what this odd item is used for?

Place your guess in the comment section. One guess per comment, though you can enter as many guesses as you'd like. Please do not post any web link or URL - doing so will void your entry. You have until the answer is revealed on the What Is It? Blog tomorrow.

Two prizes: the first correct guess and the funniest yet wrong one will win a T-Shirt from the NeatoShop.

IMPORTANT: Please write your prize selection alongside your guess, so visit the NeatoShop and take a look around. If you don't write your prize selection, then you don't get the prize. I think you'll like the selection of funny t-shirts and science t-shirts -or even t-shirts of your favorite blogs and websites.

Update: believe it or not, the odd thingamabob is a device for singing the last remaining feathers off a plucked chicken. DrWhat was the first person who knew that answer, and wins a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! The funniest answer came from Ian Goldstein, who said, "It's an old victorian codpiece. Notice how it can open for either your night out with the town's ha'penny trollop, or to check yourself for the Clap afterwards." That story wins a shirt, too! See the answers to all this week's mystery items at the What Is It? blog.