Sometimes the art of verbal presentation must face up to the risky task of creating word wizardry to make up for the lack of visual excitement of an illustrated object, give it a syllabic boost to make a lacklustre item more presentable. This is one of those occasions.

What we have is a passive barely active, semi-lethargic entity comprised of two slats of thin wood attached by brass slab coiled springs to a base slab — giving it a soft bouncy buoyant characteristic: [size - 8" L x 4" deep]. Almost forgot, the top slab — as you can see — is divided into two equal pieces for separate, non-connected freedom of action.

With this month’s teaser presentation, we have a surprise for you — a departure from our normal "show ‘n tell" approach, in the fact that we’re actually going to give you the answer. Of coarse there’s a catch; we’re going to point you toward an iron-clad clue, but you’ll have to work for it, no charity…no free rides. In the past on several occasions we’ve hidden the answer amongst a list of tongue-in-cheek possibilities, inviting you to wade through the imposters and ferret out the true identity.

Somewhere within the pages of this issue there’s a feature article containing a visual clue, a line drawing depicting this mystery item. To motivate you, we’re offering a free 1-year subscription to the reader with the first correct answer phoned in to 1-888-698-0734.

In the meantime, some of the off-the-record mind confusing suggestions:

1) Side-by-side dual practice spring boards for Olympic synchronized choreographed diving. 
2) Casino black jack fresh playing card deck ready rack. 
3) Football player knee-action exercises strengthening equipment (model) 
4) Desktop memo, letter holder and ink bottle platform. 
5) Gymnastic vaulting horse dual action springboard approach.
6) Diet menu food portion balance scale.
7) Ballet dancer’s tour jete development training apparatus (scale model) 
8) Counterfeit coin weight detector. 
9) Musicians’ sunken orchestra pit platform prototype [before the development of electricity]
10) Eccentric vaudeville tap dance and acrobatic portable performance stage (miniature)
11) Military rising tide bridge leveling link segment.

Now that the "Preposterous Proposal Board" had made its final report, we urge you to take advantage of our "Guess What" guessing and research offer as outlined above. Have fun!

    Answer to December's Guess What..?