This one turns up regulary in Europe as well - I guess the wooden parts rot away, or get burnt as fire wood and then the screw get put on one side as 'useful'..... Modern ones still available, but usually with plastic formers. For those who do not know this tool, the formers (wood or plastic) had holes in them that took small mushroom like inserts, to allow the shoe to be stretched away from a bunion or painful toe....