A simple ball of string -- no kitchen should be without one. Use it to truss up a turkey, secure a bouquet garni or bard a pork roast.

Detail of the famous 825-pound ball of string that is roughly four feet tall. Bob Gerber, owner of The Antique Man, purchased it in 1999 from Haussner’s restaurant in Highlandtown when it closed.

The great big $8,250 ball of Haussner’s string has become the instant cornerstone of the Antique Man’s collection of weird and wonderful oddities — “because it is, in fact, … ...