Mystery steel box

[mothhawk]

A stainless steel box, 3" wide x 5" long X 2"deep, hinged along the short edge. When opened, in the lid two oblongs of metal pop up, one each end, with a semicircle in the top edge of each, big enough to support a fat cigar between them along the length of the lid. The base part of the box is boxed over, with a screwed long narrow lid running down the centre.

When this is removed there is revealed a pencil wide depression the length of the centre of the box, containing what looks like it might have been wadding for lighting. (It looks charred). There is no access to the rest of the base, except maybe through the screwhole of the long lid.

The box is surprisingly heavy for its size.

A friend showed it to me today and I had no camera to take pics. She has no idea what it may be, but it has initials on the lid in flowing Edwardian type script, so it must have been a personal item.

What could it be?

[veggiechicken]

No photo...........
Could it be something to do with a firearm? or, as you suggest smoking, or writing?

[Glutton4...]

No idea! But you really need to get yourself one of them thar new-fangled smartie-fones wot takes piccies, dontcha!?

[StaryD]

I would say a Tinderbox of some kind, but I can't be certain without seeing a picture.

[mothhawk]

No idea! But you really need to get yourself one of them thar new-fangled smartie-fones wot takes piccies, dontcha!?

I do indeed - conversations tend to go like this:
I'll send the photo to your phone.
You can't.
Course I can, give me your number.
It won't work.
What do you mean 'won't work'? Is it broken?
No.
Then I'll send it to you.
You can't.
Why not?
It's just a phone.
What do you mean? I'll send it anyway.
OK.

[mothhawk]

I would say a Tinderbox of some kind, but I can't be certain without seeing a picture.

I wondered that, but there's nothing to create a spark.

Besides, it's made of stainless steel, which places it well into the era of matches and matchboxes, i.e. post 1913.

[Seahorse]

Does it look anything like this wartime syringe box?

Vintage ,Metal Box for syringes WWII ,,We - els Original No.115,, Germany | eBay

[zazen999]

I do indeed - conversations tend to go like this:
I'll send the photo to your phone.
You can't.
Course I can, give me your number.
It won't work.
What do you mean 'won't work'? Is it broken?
No.
Then I'll send it to you.
You can't.
Why not?
It's just a phone.
What do you mean? I'll send it anyway.
OK.

Flippin heck. I wonder if your phone is actually older than the box you are researching?

[mothhawk]

Next time I see her, I'll try and get a photo - note to self, take camera.

[mothhawk]

I'd like that if I could, Zaz, but all the 'like' buttons seem to have disappeared.

ah, they're back again.

[mothhawk]

Does it look anything like this wartime syringe box?

Not really, except in dimension. The quality is very much better. The hinge is internal, and held by tiny watchmaker's size screws, likewise the two pieces that pop up in the lid.

[SarzWix]

I was thinking tinderbox as well. The thing to make a spark would have been separate from the box. Google images 'antique tinderbox' brings up lots of different things.

[Potstubsdustbins]

I think you can discount firearms, by that period we were well into single piece ammo.

Would love to see a pic and try to solve it, this one's going to be in my head until I know.

Potty

[KittyColdNose]

Could it be a hand warmer with the charcoal stick being slotted into the two supporting bits?

[veggiechicken]

Those popup bits are puzzling me - as if I've seen something like that before. Why would they pop up - to present the person opening it with whatever was resting in there - I presume. But would the thing in the box remain in place when the lid was opened and the pop up bits popped? or the reverse, when the box was closed