The objects above have been hanging in our living room for nearly twenty years, and yet I had no idea what they were. Then I found the object below in the online collection of the Stichting Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. It was described as a vliegenmepper, or fly swatter. It seemed quite large to be a flyswatter, and while the description didn't seem plausible, it was at least possible.

Then I found the zeef - sieve, and unlike the vliegenmeppers, it came with a story. It was described as a "sieve with stem, used in the preparation of palm oil." It was among the ethnographic objects collected in Liberia by J.Büttikofer, during his second trip to West Africa 1886-1887."

Literature references included: Büttikofer, J. "Notices about Liberia", in: "Journal of the Geography Society" 18Büttikofer, J. "Einiges über die Eingebornen von Liberia", in: "Internationales Archiv für Etnographie" 1888;Büttikofer, J. "Reisebilder aus Liberia" Leiden 1890.

There is little doubt that the objects in the Walter Logan Fry collection were sieves, although an errant soul might swat a fly or two with them when disturbed. It is also highly likely that my father's cook obtained the sieves in the market, if my father didn't purchase them himself. And they really do look like the sieves we use at home for separating or straining food, although the Liberian sieves are larger and flatter, and made of wood and fiber, not steel.