The last item I bought from Williamsburg Flea Market was this wooden and brass extension rule, which I got for $4. There were quite a few of these in the market, so they can’t be that rare, but this was the only one I saw with a brass inlay, and I really liked that detail.


From what I can tell, it is a carpenter’s rule (I suppose strictly speaking that doesn’t make it stationery, but forgive me…), I guess from before tape measures, so that they could easily carry around their measuring tool. It’s 72 inches, which puzzled me for a while, and then I realised that is 2 yards.


I suppose there isn’t a huge amount else to say about this item, except that it looks nice, and you can make fun shapes with it…