r/whatisit • u/Hangry-24-7 • 1d ago
New, what is it? Uncle holding something
Picture of my wife’s uncle as a boy 7 or 8 yrs old. Grew up on a farm in western NY. This picture dates back to around 1947 or 1948. What is the boy holding? Is it a toy? Or some sort of farm tool?
Update — yes this photo was enhanced using ai to take the graininess out of the original picture. My wife is giving a copy of the image to her cousin for an 80th birthday gift along with other photos.
The AI bashing on this post is unbelievable! How come nobody is bashing the fact that I used a scanner to create a jpeg of the image as opposed to creating a duplicate from a photo negative in a dark room and sending out 250 copies thru the postal service?
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u/GroundbreakingTip64 1d ago
Looks like an old blue print case. Any architects?
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u/Ok_Principle1016 1d ago edited 23h ago
That’s what it looks like to me: my mom became an architect at 40, and her dad gifted her a vintage blueprint case for her graduation. Looked just like this.
(Even if there aren’t any architects in the family, homeowners often got the original blueprint of the house upon purchase. Could just be they built/bought a home, and the blueprints came with it 🤷♀️)
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u/thexidris 1d ago
I am so dumb, I was like "How did they know it was blue? 🤔"
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u/netsurf916 23h ago
I hear they still had color back then, but nobody can produce any evidence, so... 🤷♂️
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u/Marco_McFly 1d ago edited 21h ago
Technically your thought was actually correct, as it should be “blueprint”, not “blue print”…unless it’s meant to be “a print that's blue”.
Edit:
…or unless we were talking about a “blue case for prints”. ;D4
u/The-Tarman 22h ago
Which they were. Blue, that is.
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u/Marco_McFly 21h ago
Well…that's also correct. Technically, a blueprint is also a blue print. But not every blue print is a blueprint. ̄_(ツ)_/ ̄
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u/Miserable-Session-35 20h ago
And printed
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u/BeneficialLeave7359 16h ago
Not really. The original drawing is done on a translucent media which is put on top of a piece of UV sensitive paper, that is yellow to start. This combo is the then run under a UV light source which “burns off” the yellow parts that weren’t masked off by the lines and writing on the original. The blueprint paper alone is then run through an ammonia vapor bath which then fixes the lines and turns them blue.
Source: I’m an old as fuck draftsman
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u/Past_Negotiation8290 4h ago
You’re referring to diazo blueprints which started being used in large numbers in the 1940s. The make blue lines or black or brown lines on a white background. Developed with ammonia and water vapor. The OG blueprints were actually cyanotypes invented in the 1820s.
Cyanotype prints have white lines on a blue background and need to get fully submerged in water like other photographic prints, so making large numbers was time consuming and messy.
However back to the original post, though that does look like a storage tube for drawings, the emblem on the side doesn’t look correct. Someone else suggested it is a telescope and has one just like it. I tend to agree.
Even older blue print shop owner here.
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u/Flaky-Ambassador467 17h ago
It looks like a telescope. You can see where it would connect to the tripod & there is a cap on one end where it would retract the eye piece. They were very popular with children back then
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u/OlivineStuffer 1d ago
Could definitely be a blueprint tube, especially with those metal caps, but I'm curious what else it could be.
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u/More-Flan1369 1d ago
I worked in an engineering office. The rolled plans were kept in cardboard tubes. Blueprints were laid flat in large metal drawers.
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u/Ok_Principle1016 23h ago edited 23h ago
But we’re talking about how blueprints were stored 80 years ago, not now. Especially IMPORTANT blueprints got metal cases for storage- as they were the final draft of the overall building, and how it was built. People (if they wanted to renovate/add on to the structure in the future) would need this information, and it (being hand drawn) was usually the only copy…so, metal tube for protection was the standard at that time.
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u/More-Flan1369 13h ago
Your assuming that I was talking about modern times. The office I worked in was The City Engineers office for the City of Haverhill, MA. We had some pretty old, rather ancient, maps, prints, plot plans, etc.
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u/AioliTurbulent1928 23h ago
I can see that, it really does look like an old blueprint case. Curious if anyone who worked in architecture back then can confirm it.
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u/MothmansLegalCouncel 1d ago
I own one of these, and I have the box it came in still. It’s a telescope. As soon as I get home tomorrow I’ll attach the photos! Great picture! You’ll get a real kick out of the box and the artwork. It’s a real time capsule.
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u/-HeyYouInTheBush- 1d ago
That's his cylinder. It appears unharmed.
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u/rubberchickenlips 1d ago
This is my cylinder. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
My cylinder is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.
My cylinder, without me, is useless. Without my cylinder, I am useless. I must keep my cylinder true...
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u/o_blake 1d ago
Could be a fly-fishing rod. I tried helping a guy open a canister just like this. He told me it was an old fishing rod.
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u/Hangry-24-7 1d ago
Thanks for the tip could be something like this
https://ebay.io/m/B0JcNp3
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u/portablebiscuit 1d ago
My dad had one. Aluminum tube, translucent green plastic lid that’s impossible to unscrew.
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u/TyrannicalTestical 1d ago
This is an AI generated image. It's likely being used as a test to see if people can tell. There have been a lot of these lately.
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u/FunGuy8618 1d ago
Goddamn good catch. The mother's hand is all weird, and the resolution is much too clear for the age of the photograph.
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u/TyrannicalTestical 1d ago
The boy's collar clips theought the canister, his shirt has snaps as well as buttons and his right foot ends at the ankle.
Also the mother's hand.
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u/The-Tarman 22h ago
Her hand could have just been in motion when the photo was taken. What we are seeing on the top of the cylinder could just be the reflection of the boys collar in the shiny cylinder cap.
That said, I'm not an expert in AI images or actual photos, so I could be completely wrong. It is a very high res picture, and that did catch my eye right away. Though I didn't think AI till it was mentioned above
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u/SchrodingersMinou 23h ago edited 21h ago
The resolution isn’t too good. Digital photography hasn’t yet caught up to the resolution of a Victorian large format negative.
ETA this photo has 100% been mangled by robots but the resolution is not an indicator of its age.
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u/warm_rum 20h ago
In some ways, but while most smartphones are beat in ppi, older cameras suffer other problems.
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u/ThereminLiesTheRub 17h ago
The mother's hand is normal. Looks like the baby's arm & hand is between the mother's hand and her face, and there's not a lot of detail. We're so used to seeing mangled Ai hands that our brains now interpret unclear info as distorted ai.
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u/Bubba_Jones44 17h ago
I wanna point out how I can tell it’s AI, but I don’t want the sob to learn.
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u/Bastodermo 16h ago
For me, it’s the teeth. AI always gives people straight, white teeth.
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u/Shrooms_Mentality22 12h ago
And not to mention for the late 1940s, I dont think anybody was giving 2 fucks about teeth care if we're being honest
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u/smizzlebdemented 12h ago
How about…? they didn’t have 48 mega pixel digital cameras back then?
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u/__O_o_______ 12h ago edited 5h ago
Actually there are some astonishingly high-resolution glass plate photos because it used the full plate. It was cumbersome and expensive, not for random family photos though.
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u/thebeastwithnoeyes 10h ago
Interestingly the glass plate photos, or even earlier way back to the daguerreotypes, were of such great quality because the in the process (complicated, messy and dangerous as it used mercury and chlorine to develop) it was the silver atoms that got oxidized and changed colour. Modern celluloid film based negatives for the emulsion use silver halide crystals which by definition are larger than atoms and through that impact the image quality.
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u/Dangerous_Ice_1982 8h ago edited 8h ago
The fact it's supposedly a home photo from the 1940's that looks like it was taken with a modern camera, and has zero artifacts from it being a scan is a clue
Edit: OP provided the original. Notice how this is one clearly a scan of an old, low quality photo.
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u/Nixionika 22h ago
Yeah. It was wierd to me that they're all unrealistically good looking, including commercial-like perfect expressions.
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u/DeficitDaddy 20h ago
My question is who though?
All the big companies are well aware of SYNTHid and wouldn’t be this dumb
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1d ago
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u/Hangry-24-7 1d ago
Any idea how tall this old flashlight is?
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u/Almost_a_Legend 1d ago
I’m going with something like this. If you look at the bottom you can see the lens protruding obscuring the grass.
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u/Afraid-Aardvark5075 1d ago
I know they made both 18 and 27 in version, so likely one of those if it is a flashlight.
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u/Acceptingoptimist 1d ago
The thing he's holding isn't that old. The one you linked is from the gilded age.
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u/Acceptingoptimist 1d ago
They were pretty much discontinued before world War 2. There was better battery and bulb technology by then. He said this photo is from 47.
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u/Cold_Dead_Heart 1d ago
It looks brand new in the photo. And the kid is posing with it like it was a birthday gift 🙄
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u/Hopeforus1402 1d ago
Telescope?
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u/Fit_Cut_4238 1d ago
I think the knob it the middle rotates an aperture. I’ve seen something like this maybe for cameras or for a telescope or maybe looking around a corner or maybe an eclipse or something. Very specific I know :)
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u/DescriptionHairy8600 1d ago
His dad's nuclear-powered fleshlight.
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u/ClearTranslator5093 1d ago
This is very very high definition for black and white from the 40s … lol
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u/royaltrux 1d ago
Film was super high resolution, especially black and white. Whatever scanned it and compressed it will degrade it.
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u/The_Bard 1d ago
Yeah consumer 35mm is somewhere around 8 megapixels assuming a very good scanner. There isn't a scanner made that can scan the full quality of the highest quality 35mm.
And that's just 35mm. There's medium format which is more like 50-100 megapixels. And large format film which we can only guess at.
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u/mouthbox 1d ago edited 1d ago
Just in the name of math- I don't think that's right, you can definitely scan past what 35mm actually holds. A phase one iXH 150MP with the schneider 120mm and extension tubes can get you about 1:1, so around 6700 ppi, which is more than the best b&w 35mm has in it. The iXH 250MP with the same lens and tubes is more like 9000 ppi but past 6000 or so you're mostly just getting sharper grain
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u/PXranger 1d ago
Film resolution is highly dependent on the size of the negative, if this was taken with a Rolleiflex Twin lens reflex camera, for example, it would have been using 6x6cm 120 film.
Professional digital cameras matched the resolution of 120 film around 2010, and just in the last couple of years have professional digital camera bodies matched the quality a large format film camera (using 4x5 inch film). these digital camera systems will cost you around $10,000, without lenses. This to match technology that was available in the 1940’s.
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u/Yeti_Colo 23h ago
I you know so much about vintage cameras and photo youd see the other obvious issues. Too much depth of field, too sharp on the edges for the focal lenwits suggesting. Too even of illumination on the subjects. Unless this was a staged pro shoot its not happening. That is even before thenother issues.... the peoples shadows and face illumination shows the sun at 7 from the camera but elsewhere its around 11 or 10. The roof is wrong and they didnt put vents like that on a garage. There are more ques as well. 95% chance this is fake.
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u/PXranger 14h ago
Too much depth of field? depth of field is a function of aperture size. assuming this photo was taken in sunlight, using ASA 100 film, it's reasonable to assume the aperture was at least f16. that would give sufficient depth of field consistent with this photograph. You are also mistaken about the shadows, the shadow in the background is consistent with a building casting a shadow from behind the photographer.
Looking at the photo zoomed in, it's obvious that AI has oversharpened the image. It's a AI correction of a scan from an original photo as the OP stated. as for illumination, it is not inconsistent with the assumed lighting.
Also, buildings don't always have roof vents. some have end vents. or no vents at all.
I've taken tens of thousands of photographs over my lifetime, sold quite a few of them, also. The technology you are calling "Vintage" was state of the art when I started using it. I have a decent grasp on how it works. Yes, this photo has been AI enhanced, but per the OP, is started life as an actual film based photo.
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u/Slumerican717 1d ago
Google swears it's the outter shell from an antitank rocket launcher... i think it looks more like a telescope or some kind of big ass. Kaleidoscope, personally
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u/Acceptingoptimist 1d ago
I agree. Looks like telescope, kaleidoscope or homemade rocket part. I gotta think it's a toy the kid is proud to have and wanted to hold in the picture.
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u/TheOriginalArchibald 1d ago
Could have been empty army surplus the kid played with given the year. Dad likely served or was war adjacent. Tons of surplus for pennies everywhere.
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u/GromBlessAMERICA 1d ago
👦🏼-Hey Pa, Look what I found in the attic...!
🧔🏼♂️~"Well I'll be a monkeys uncle" That's my trusty ole BAZOOKA from the great war!! Welp skippy, let's skidaddle out back and shoot a few sodi pop cans! (Just "LOB" a few shot's for old time's sake...) 🏌🏼♂️🚀🎇
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u/Ok_Drag5089 16h ago
When you prompted did you specifically ask the AI not to invent anything and just clean up the image as best it can?
If you don't do that you can get wildly inaccurate results.
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u/Liberally_applied 18h ago
"How come nobody is bashing the fact that I used a scanner..." Because the scanner creates a copy. AI changes the image. Huge difference and you know it, so stop playing dumb. If you're going to change an image, it's best to state that or you look like you're trying to pass it off as original to see if anyone notices. Especially in today's growing anti AI climate.
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u/Caveman_tuble 15h ago
This great example of when someone desperately tries to conjure up an analogy without thinking about it for more than two seconds. Seriously not even comparable.
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u/Ok_Scallion1902 1d ago
I believe that's a spytube with a mirror set at an angle to see around corners ; very popular in the James Bond/Man from U.N.C.L.E. era of mid sixties.
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u/Background_Award_878 1d ago
I agree. I swear it's one of those toy periscopes or spy scopes
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u/AutomaticWealth9795 1d ago
I was thinking the same thing and am old enough that it may reflect memory
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u/Old_Voice_2562 22h ago
This is AI enhanced. That tube doesn’t look like that in the original photo. That’s my hill.
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u/smizzlebdemented 1d ago
What’s up with the wife’s left hand? And why is this picture so insanely clear and sharp?
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u/BumBumBumBumBahDum 1d ago
And why does the gutter extend like 3 feet beyond the edge of the roof?
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u/peekdasneaks 1d ago
And what the fuck is goin on with the shingles the further up and left you go?
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u/pirategirljess 22h ago
That tube he is holding contains radioactive material, which was common at the time. Her hand is suffering the effects of exposure.
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u/maiscestmoi 1d ago
Maybe some kind of toy rocket case? Also, the kid looks sort of like Alfred E Neuman.
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u/redisdead__ 1d ago
I'm sorry I'm not sure either but I just wanted to say I really appreciate you adding relevant details like approximate year and general location.
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u/pintjockeycanuck 1d ago
The looks like a spun aluminum document tube with a wire bail handle they were also called drafting tubes or Deed tubes... did they just buy the property?
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u/FrozenScoundrel 1d ago
He looks like the kid from Mad Magazine.
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u/According-Put-9236 1d ago
That is Alfred E. Neuman. Come on man, if you are gonna compare, at least know who the king is.
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u/TheMaveCan 9h ago
I remember reading MAD Magazine when i was in my early teens. My mom liked it because it was cheap at the grocery store and I was always super excited about it. Shame that if I have a boy he won't get to enjoy it the same way
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u/Uncle-Cake 15h ago
The problem is that AI has added details that weren't present in the original photo, so we're seeing the AI's interpretation of the object.
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u/-RedRocket- 20h ago
The AI bashing on this post is unbelievable! How come nobody is bashing the fact that I used a scanner to create a jpeg of the image as opposed to creating a duplicate from a photo negative in a dark room and sending out 250 copies thru the postal service?
Because AI is theft. You know that.
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u/OpalRose1993 17h ago
There is nothing evil or ominous about a scanner, printer, and sharing photos with family. It's technology with a known impact and benefit that can be used as a tool for information or real art.
AI on the other hand steals artists work, is the reason hundreds of rare books were destroyed, is being used by tech oligarchs for nefarious purposes, is raising the cost of RAM so individuals can't afford decent processing capabilities, uses stupid amounts of water and electricity which raises costs for the average Americans near data centers, are generally environmentaly disasterous and causing intellectual laziness, misinformation, and spreading now convincing videos that make people question reality. That's why AI is bad.
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u/The_Kthanid 11h ago
For clarity. You dislike generative AI. It IS a tool, and any tool can be misused. Fire can cook a starving person food or burn down their house. AI can do all sorts of things, from figuring out new drugs and how to help fusion reactors achieve better cohesion. Etc. So I'd day be mindful of blanket "x is bad" statements.
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u/ididntdoit6 1d ago
Doesn’t look like any farm tool I’ve ever seen. Looks to me like a 8 year old boy with an imagination
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u/RandomPaw 1d ago
No one is going to say map tube? He also looks older than 7 or 8. Was he big for his age?
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u/Fragrant-Sundae-5417 1d ago
Looks like an ai upscale, in which case it could literally be anything.
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u/2Minti4U 1d ago
When I look at the original and the upscale side by side, it just looks crisper to me. What is there to really hate on here?
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u/subdep 16h ago
Dad’s left hand has no wedding ring, which isn’t totally weird, just peculiar. What’s totally weird is his middle finger is short and his ring finger is much bigger. That’s a dead giveaway it’s Ai.
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u/Skaiiwalker 1d ago
It looks to me like one of those multi-part thermos things with multiple compartments
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u/rawrXd1985 13h ago
It’s almost like a scanner isn’t being powered by giant american data centers forcing Americans out of their homes if they want yk to have water.
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u/Flaky-Ambassador467 17h ago
It looks like a telescope 🔭 with out the tripod they were very popular with kids back then. Tell me was the object there before the AI enhanced?
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u/Anders_A 18h ago edited 8h ago
It's probably not possible to identify it when you only give us the LLM "enhanced" version of the image as the LLM adds information that's not actually there and thus will make it harder to identify.
Give us the original and we might be able to help!
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u/multi-effects-pedal 23h ago
This is AI. So who cares what it is? It’s an AI’s best guess at something a boy should hold.
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u/Hammon_Rye 1d ago
the first can of Pringles, before they got shorter.
But serious guess would maybe be an early telescope.
But I couldn't find anything looking too close to that when searching images.
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