Flax Hackle Sighting

I saw a coarse flax hackle at an antique shop. The tines were rusty and bent, and the wood was weathered and missing chunks of itself, so I couldn't imagine anyone buying it to use the thing as a working tool. Still, seeing it was a bit of a thrill.

As far as I know, opportunities to buy working flax hackles are only to be gotten through custom order from the rare person who knows how to make them.

I wonder, when the antique dealer found that flax hackle and put it in the shop, whether he or she thought it was a thrilling object or merely something that would sell.

Instead of hackle, it is labelled as a hetchel. I think that gives it some class, like it's a flax hackle from the Old Country or at least a flax hackle that got to go backpack around Europe after high school.