BOODLE ALDERMAN PUZZLE

This puzzle is a double puzzle as we do not actually know what we are supposed to do with it. There is another example in the Slocum Collection at the Lilly Library and Jerry Slocum has confessed that he too has failed to discover the intended objective. He has however found this advertising leaflet: -

There are subtle variations in the thickness of the different wire components and by use of some cunning moves we have progressed as far as the picture below.

Maybe you have an original "printed instructions", in which case please help us complete this entry.

A "Boodler" was American slang for someone, especially a politician, who seeks or accepts bribes. In the 1880s the vice president of New York's Board of Aldermen became the first so called "Boodle Alderman" upon being convicted and imprisoned for bribery in awarding the city streetcar contracts.