Made of wood. 1 1/2" H by 16 1/2" X 16 1/2" Square. Sectioned 7 across and 7 down. When it was purchased about 40 years ago, I was told it was to hold eggs. Well, eggs flop to side. I had it on wall with miniatures in it. The round nails are only in frame. I'm sure someone knows what it is. Thanks a lot!
Or could be a typesetters box which is I think what @E Ewing was saying.....people put many little collectibles in these!!!! Although the one shown is fairly square, so could be for a different purpose!!
Might be for eggs. I did know someone that had very similar looking boxes they used for a wall display of miniatures. Looks a bit like the one on the right. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/V-RARE-1...=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
I do have an old type cabinet with multiple drawers. They are all rectangular but there's no reason that I know of that they couldn't be square. They each have a handle and are quite shallow. Drawer fronts are about 1¼" high but the interiors are 1" high.
Ah, I do think the typesetter/printer's box as I recall now, the sizes of each slot are not all exact same. So egg does seem right. Looking at pink paper, perhaps each slot had some packing material, excelsior straw type stuff to help the eggs stay in place? Neat item.
As far as I can see them well enough to count, the egg trays in the ad are 6 x 6, 3 dozen. OP's is 7 x 7; 49 seems like an odd number for eggs. My first thought was type, but...?
Type case, typically used for fleurons, dingbats or other ornamental bits; as opposed to the common California job case, used for letters, which is larger and has different sized compartments to accommodate different letter frequencies.
type case. thrown out in millions at the start of the 1980s when the printers switched to electronics. were also copied in cheap plywood.
