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This object is proof that sometimes we get it wrong.

This object arrived as part of a donation with many shipbuilding tools.  The donor was told that all the items were from local ship yards.  Our curators and researchers identified all the items except one, pictured here.

The best information we could get for that one object was that it was some kind of string cutter.   Having no other information, we identified it as such.  However we could not figure how this object worked to cut string.

Museum work is a process of study and learning. And it was this process that led us to the correct identification of this object.

One day while researching another subject our Curator came upon a documentary of African Goat Herders and there to our surprise was “our string cutter” identified as an African Thumb Piano and being played as such while tending the herd.

African Thumb piano or Mbira is an African musical instrument consisting of a wooden board (often fitted with a resonator) with attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument in the hands and plucking the tines with the thumbs.

This object is a fine example of how Queens County missionaries and sea faring men in the age of sail travelled and collected items from all over the world.