Mike Dobony wrote:
We found this thing in the basement of my daughter's home they just bought.
Can anybody identify what it is?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23816537@N04/2267656766/

They look like capacitors. If the house dates back to the 50's or
older they may have been part of an external telephone bell. They
may have been installed as a radio canceling device to filter out
radio broadcasts on telephone line.

It could also be a crackpot customer device. These were various pieces
of telephone equipment installed to do absolutely nothing but satisfy
a chronic complainer. It would be a special/secret device that nobody
was supposed to have.
Believe it or not those devices actually worked.

LdB