Mum asks for help after finding strange object in her washing machine - social media sleuths figured it out
A mother left baffled after finding a strange object in her washing machine has embarked on a mission to uncover what is actually is.
The Reddit user, @strawberrybalsamic, came across an odd-looking tiny disk adorned with a pink smiley face looking up at her while she did a load of laundry and was dumbfounded by what it could be.
So she took to Reddit to get to the bottom of it.
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A Reddit user was dumbfounded when they found this smiley in her washing machine. Reddit/ @strawberrybalsamic
She shared an image of the pink smiley to Reddit's 'What Is This Thing' forum with the hopes of uncovering where it had come from.
"Found in my washing machine," she captioned the post. "Small, pink face?"
The user posted two pictures of the odd find. On one side the small disk had a dark pink outline and a smiley face design and on the other side the pink appeared faded and there was no smiley face.
It did look like it had been broken off something.
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The other side was faded and appeared broken. Reddit/ @strawberrybalsamic
The user explained that she had found it after doing a load of washing and said it "doesn't seem to dissolve [and] has no odour".
"Googling only comes up with ecstasy which seems unlikely."
Other users in the thread were quick to theorise with the original poster about what it could be.
"It might be a kids mini eraser," one wrote.
"My kids get them a lot in gift bags for birthdays or prize rewards at school. That wouldn't break down in the wash, but could become discoloured."
Another shared that it could be a plastic mixer to put in kids' slime while another said that it looks like "the top of a croc charm".
One person said that depending on the size it could be a kid's rubber stamp that has been broken off the handle.
In response, the original poster shared another photo of the strange disk in the palm of her hand.
The disk appeared very small. Reddit/ @strawberrybalsamic
In the photo it appears to be very small – smaller than a 5 cent coin.
Then finally, after much back and forth, one Reddit user cracked the case.
"Do you have any kids?" they asked. "This looks like the rubber part from a cheap stamp. Like one at the end of a marker".
The original poster then replied that she did have kids.
"We don't have any markers like that but maybe they picked it up somewhere."
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The Reddit thread came to the conclusion that it was a part of the stamp broken off one of these markers. Lakeshore
The user then shared a photo of the kind of stamp markers they were talking about which solved the mystery.
They shared a photo of a Lakeshore brand of "mini stampers" with the exact same design as the smiley-face the mother found in her laundry.
"This is practically identical so I think it's solved," the mother commented with excitement.
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