Mystery little box thingy.

This looks just like a vesta case without the striking area. It's about the normal size for a vesta, but the odd thing is it is spring loaded closed. I had to wedge it open to show the inside, which is a sheet of metal with a circular hole.

It would be very inconvenient to use as a cigar cutter, as you need two hands to open it. The hole is nearer one side than the other. Have the men in a shed somewhere used their crystal balls to form a plan to make something totally useless just to baffle af 80 years in the future. If so, they have succeeded.

It is not surprising it is in excellent condition if no one knows what it is for.







By the way, it is white metal, probably chromium plate, not silver.

 

"It would be very inconvenient to use as a cigar cutter, as you need two hands to open it."

Ah, but would you need two hands to close it/clip the cigar?

Given its small size, I could imagine closing it with the thumb and one finger of one hand.

 

Its a pretty rugged spring. Anything but a good grip and it snaps shut.

 

Pocket bris kit?



I'll get me coat...............................

 

Oh good grief -- then the child would go through life with the nickname "Stogie."

 

Could there have been another ring attached to the other corner of the smaller side? Allowing it to be hung from the neck for the wearer to pull down on the larger end and reveal something? Like a small watch perhaps?

 

I think the "hole" is to push out whatever is inserted in the front which has depth for maybe a coin or something replaceable like rouge or something else that could be placed in a square form used then replaced.

 

perhaps one of those small watches ? we recently had one for golf playes that slid open.
can't remember the brand.

 

Fid, that one was a belt buckle watch though - https://www.antiquers.com/threads/silver-watch-belt-buckle-pretty-snazzy.2738/

 

Probably thinking of the Ermeto, or similar. Nothing could be removed from this, like a watch movement, without destroying it. No way to wind a watch, either.

Those closing springs are fierce.

 

If it wasn't open on the sides I'd think it was a portable ashtray.

 

The big problem with any use of it is that you'd need three hands. It takes two hands to open it.

 

I think it hung from a watch fob so you'd only need one.

 

The spring needs about ten pounds pull, if you had it on your watch chain, which is probably where it went, you'd pull your waistcoat off before it opened much.

 

No, I see what you mean, Af. That's the kind of thing that one tells little Algernon Not To Play With!

It has to be identifiable...it's not that old. And it's chromium. With a Deco design.

 

What is the name of that wonderful store in London that sells men's "furnishings?" If it were here, I'd take it to Abercrombie & Fitch.

 

or, Hammercher Schlemmer.

 

And all you would get for your trouble is a blank stare from some very fey looking, anorexic, just out of the teenage years clerks A&F ain't what it used to be when my grandfather called up and ordered a full safari rig before he toddled off to Africa.......................

 

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

 

HAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!!!
Not..... Never mind.