Cast Iron Whatsit?

Bought this yesterday at an auction for $2 in the back room. It's larger mate sold in the front room for $65.

I bought mine because it was different. I've never seen anything like this in cast iron. I wasn't there when the other sold or I would have asked the buyer what they thought it was. I've had guesses that include beer stein, mug, and measure. Anyone here know what it might be?

Thanks so much!

 

I forgot to add, it's 6 1/2" tall and 4" across the top.

 

I can't help, but I like it. I would have bought that too.

 

I'm a sucker for unusual things. Then I get home and can't find anything like what I bought when I try to do research. Sometimes, like now, I'm not sure what to call something and that doesn't help.

 

For what it's worth...
I have seen one like it. A great-aunt had a pot-belly stove in her New Mexico house, and on top of it sat a little pitcher full of water. In winter, when the stove was in use, the pitcher provided humidity and was also a ready source of hot water for coffee. Not sure how it came to be used that way, but I have seen other current-day cast-iron items, more decorative, dragons especially, sold for express use as humidifiers. Fire-wood heated winters in NM can be a very staticky (sp?) situation..

 

Thanks Gila.
Someone also suggested that it was used for heating water because it has what looks like scale inside. But there isn't a spout or lip for pouring. So, I'm not sure.

 

Handle looks like brass, would you test it with a magnet?

 

If it holds a pint it may be a beer mug. Heated, the handle would be too hot to hold. And too tiny to hold any useful amount of water.

 

This is bringing back so many memories... it was guilty fun to watch Auntie Rafaela pour water without a spout, into a cup, handling the little pitcher with a pillow-like hot-mit. I learned my first curse words there, I think. And little kids running around... what a hazard.

 

Not brass. But thank you for asking because I found a mark on the handle. It looks like 7/8?

 

More like 3 pints. It's quite big.

 

This doesn't help much but here's one with a makers name A. Kenrick & Sons" on the bottom, little bit bigger than yours but same form and handle.
http://www.rubylane.com/item/1446331-146/Mid-19th-Century-Heavy-Cast-Iron

 

The handle is identical. It also has scale inside like mine. I think it may be more than just a jug though. I think Gila has the right idea but I wonder if there's a specific name for it?

 

We had a wood stove when I was growing up, and we would do the same thing too for keeping some humidity in the air, though I think we used a cast iron kettle.

There is nothing to put you asleep like laying out in front of a warm fire! I'd be laying on the floor on my stomach watching tv and would be asleep in five minutes. Our poodle would inevitably crawl up onto my back or snuggle by my side enjoying the double warmth. It's a wonder no one ever got singed hair! LOL.

 

WAG: There's an acid-proof sulfur-free cast iron used to handle corrosive liquids, maybe it is a measuring or sampling vessel for that kind of industrial use. The handle reminds me of the ones on US Navy gunpowder measures from the 1850's. But It can't be a gunpowder measures which is always copper or a copper alloy.

 

A. Kendrick & Sons dates from at least as far back as 1880s, was in West Midlands, England. They made every domestic cast iron or steel object you can think of, as well as military items like Mills Bombs, anything they could sell I guess. The manufacturer's code found on Mills Bombs they made is K***. I'm sure that's something you have always wanted to know.

 

Wanted to make sure to thank everyone for their help with this. You guys are the greatest!