Unusual Old Carved Whimsy with Chain Links, Cage, Plug, and Expandable Part! sculptural candle and there are also a

and there are also a fair number of unfilled holes

with one hole at bottom center for a screw

the white paint against the smooth dark wood reads almost as silver

Our subject hardly looks old enough to be shaving

These sorts of rigid paddle-shaped fans are called Uchiwa in Japanese

Unusual Old Carved Whimsy with Chain Links, Cage, Plug, and Expandable Part! sculptural candle and there are also aI recently learned it probably should have occurred to me before! that whimsies were often carved from old broom and tool handles, and I'd bet that was the case with this one. It is unlike any other I've seen, with a long cage at one end (with the "ball" more rectangular than spherical), then a series of chain links, then another cage type form with a plug as the "ball" such that one can actually extend it by pulling or contact it by pushing, and then