Does anyone know what this was used for?

[impiusgems]

I bought this at a resale shop. It is brass. It is a hand with a ball in the palm.  On top of the ball is a tray with a hole in each corner.  As shown in the first photo the hand can be raised.  I have had opinions from a soap dish from a ship to a calling card holder to a repurposed door knocker.  I am hoping someone would have seen one of these before. There are no markings.

[lmel1951]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Brass-Or-Cast-Iron-Hand-Ball-Door-Knocker-Hardware-Heavy-Metal-Vint...

It is a door knocker see listing above

[lmel1951]

Sorry it doesnt take you to the correct listing but it is identical to yours and sold for $39.99

[lacemaker3]

This should hopefully be a persistent URL that leads to the correct item:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Brass-Or-Cast-Iron-Hand-Ball-Door-Knocker-Hardware-Heavy-Metal-Vint...

That seller wasn't sure if it was a door knocker or not.

"I think it was a door knocker, but it’s attached to the rectangle piece of metal."

The gizmo in his listing had (what looks like) an attached bracket to allow the round base part to be hung on the wall, but it doesn't appear to be original to the piece.

@impiusgems, does your gizmo have a hanging bracket, or does the base just stand on a flat surface? Can you post a picture of the underside of the round base?

[impiusgems]

 We have tried to make it work as a door knocker and it will not work.  The tray is 1/2 inches deep.  It mounted by the tray with the hand in the upward position there is no room for it to swing. If mounted by the base, The tray hits the back of the base. I wish I could see a picture of the listing you looked at.

[impiusgems]

Here is a picture of the back of the base. The hanging mech (screw and hook) are new. I found the listing.

[saintsantiques]

For Victorian calling cards

[impiusgems]

I would go for that except for another member found one identical to mine (see above comments). The hanging mech (hook and screw) are new. In the listing found identical to mine the hook and screw are the same so these are not that old. Just reporductions.

[lacemaker3]

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@impiusgems wrote:

 We have tried to make it work as a door knocker and it will not work.  The tray is 1/2 inches deep.  It mounted by the tray with the hand in the upward position there is no room for it to swing. If mounted by the base, The tray hits the back of the base. I wish I could see a picture of the listing you looked at.

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It's the same listing as the link that I gave. Here it is:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Brass-Or-Cast-Iron-Hand-Ball-Door-Knocker-Hardware-Heavy-Metal-Vint...

[saintsantiques]

You can get these at places like victoriantradingco.com  They are repro and and used to be for calling cards but people use them for business cards now.

[gauntlettgems]

Soap dish lol