Visible crew/equipment: At the start of the last scene, when Andy and Rogers walk out of the courthouse the reflection of a crew member is visible on the surface of the car, and as Rogers drives away we can see the reflection of the camera dolly on the car, and also the shadow of the boom mic on the ground.
Aunt Bee's Big Moment - S8-E23
Visible crew/equipment: After Aunt Bee tells Opie that she will solo the next day, when she sits in the chair to practice her flight maneuvers, the actor's tape mark is visible on the floor beside her feet.
Goodbye Sheriff Taylor - S5-E10
Continuity mistake: While Barney's trying to instruct the new deputy candidates, when he throws a tomato to Otis it splatters on his shirt, and a few things keep changing depending on the angle of the shot - the amount of tomato goo increases/changes position; the suspender's sliding adjuster changes height; the deputy badge changes position.
Continuity mistake: When Barney walks into the chicken coop there's a window on its door, but when Barney hides from Flint there's no such window on its door.
Revealing mistake: At the end, in the shots of the kids dancing in class, the width of the wall between the shelf/coat hooks and the perpendicular wall with the door has bizarrely increased by 1-2 feet, but that extra width is gone in previous and following shots. Presumably they needed extra space for all the kids to dance so they moved that left wall.
Visible crew/equipment: After Barney tells Andy that the stranger may be a foreign spy Ed Sawyer walks into the courthouse, and behind him a crew member's hand can be seen catching the door just as the door closes.
Visible crew/equipment: When Clara and Opie first sit down at the piano to begin the piano lesson, note there's nothing on the floor behind them. Then that shot cuts to the end of the lesson as the camera pulls back for a wideshot, and now there are two tape marks on the floor near the door in the area where Opie and Aunt Bee will be standing shortly. (00:04:15)
Continuity mistake: When Otis begins his 24 hour sentence at Andy's house by staying in the guest room, Otis is wearing suspenders (braces) that are sewn together in the back in an X-shape, but when Otis leaves the guest room he's wearing entirely different style suspenders attached to his trousers.
Other mistake: When Ralph Mason walks into Walker's Drugstore and asks to purchase a tin of pipe tobacco, the tobacco tin that Ellie puts on the counter has black tape across the top covering its brand name, which is "Tuxedo."
Visible crew/equipment: When Andy walks into the barber shop while Barney's complaining to Floyd about his sideburns, we can see the white T-mark on the floor at the bottom of the screen, as well as chalk marks where Andy's standing.
Visible crew/equipment: When Rogers shows Andy the statistical chart and they get a call about the domestic violence, the two chalk marks can are visible on the floor below the bulletin board to its left, which is precisely where both Rogers and Barney have stood at different times during this scene.
Revealing mistake: When Andy tells Opie not to drop by the courthouse anymore after school, in Andy's closeups the shots are flipped - note the part in Andy's hair, the top of his badge, and his backwards buttoned shirt.
Continuity mistake: When Opie and Arnold rush into the house and tell Andy and Aunt Bee about the party, in the shots facing the boys we can see the reflection in the mirror behind them, and there's a lamp atop the credenza, but in the shots facing Andy and Aunt Bee that lamp doesn't exist.
Revealing mistake: While Goober is up in the tree with the fake owl, when Andy and the Darlings leave the house they are standing on the porch, and after seeing the 'second omen' the Darlings leave the porch and head to their pickup truck, but what's funny is that we can see their reflections in the window behind Andy as they all walk off camera, turn around and just stand there, and we can still see those actors' reflections in the shots facing Andy and Aunt Bee even as the Darlings supposedly drive off.
Opie's Ill-Gotten Gain - S4-E8
Continuity mistake: When Opie's surprised by the bike, his first closeup is a flipped shot - note the bell's on the wrong side of the handlebar, etc.
Andy and the New Mayor - S3-E3
Visible crew/equipment: While Jess is up in the tree, the new mayor is attacked so he also starts climbing up the tree, then in the shot of the bear rushing toward the camera we can see the animal trainer who's behind the tree, as he releases the bear. (00:23:00)
Visible crew/equipment: While waiting for Barney to show up at the surprise party, Opie looks out the window and spots Barney, then when Aunt Bee and Thelma Lou take their places we can see both actors' marks on the floor - the chalk T-mark and the curved chalk mark.
Continuity mistake: In the closeup of Barney's yearbook picture his name is listed as "Bernard Milton Fife," and Andy even reads it aloud, but in the previous episode from season 1, "A Plaque for Mayberry" Andy says that Barney's middle name is Oliver.
Visible crew/equipment: After Opie tells Ellie everything that Andy told Aunt Bee, Ellie tells Opie that she's on the trail of a baboon, and when it cuts to the next shot of Ellie coming down the stairs we can see the chalk T-mark on the floor where she stands.
Visible crew/equipment: After Ellie and Andy are turned away by Flint, when they walk back into the courthouse while Barney's lifting the chair, the chalk T-mark is visible on the floor.
Answer: As noted in the previous answers, in real life, things like this provided wind and/or rain deflection, and also maintained a bit of privacy when blinds were raised somewhat. The interior courthouse set was located in the studio, so the "outside" Main Street didn't exist. I believe these things were added to the courthouse windows for practicality, to avoid some crew movement being visible on the opposite side of those windows. These are not "window boxes" to hold anything, as they're actually bottomless; we can see the Venetian blind's long pull cords under them. They're made of plywood and simple to build, so the "material and labor" was inexpensive. Similar variations made of different materials are in other movies/shows. In 1957's "12 Angry Men," textured chicken wire glass panels are in the jury room windows, and in "Jesse Stone: Night Passage" another type is in Jesse's office windows.
Super Grover ★