Antique bottle fitted into a small metal box (? related to tobacco ?)

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Hi. Would any of you know the purpose of this object? (See four photos, attached.) It is a small metal hinged box (about 1.25 inches on each side, roughly a cube) into which is placed a small glass bottle, which appears to have been specifically made to fit inside the metal box. The metal box has no bottom at all (see photo #2), so I guess that the maker slid the bottle upwards through the bottom. (It's now wedged in there pretty tight.) When you open the latch of the box, you see the top rim of the bottle (see right side of photo # 3) and (within the lid) what appears to be a matching glass piece with a small hole in the center (see left side of photo # 3). There are no vent holes in the metal sides or lid of the box. It looks as if some substance was being burned as there is a heavy soot residue around the top rim of the bottle and also on the matching glass piece in the lid. I found this piece in a homeowner's discard pile which also contained quite a few packets and tins of very old chewing and smoking tobacco. So I'm wondering if this is a tobacco related product. Or perhaps it might be an incense or snuff burner? Or could it be a very small oil lamp? Thanks for your expertise.
 

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BIRD SWING
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WW-2 they made sterno burners so the men in the army could warm their hands and cook .later the scouts also had some . but the sterno was usually in small cans . and the square sterno burners would fold up. you can still get them today on line .just a guess . once lit, you could burn anything.
 

UnderMiner

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I'm not a betting person but I would wager $1 that this is an ink well in a travel box for an old fountain/quill pen. The lid of the box appears to be water tight so most probably contained a liquid, it also looks to be stained black - a clear indication it once held ink.
 
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Thanks. I'm thinking you're right. I thought that the black stain might be soot but could easily be dried ink. It has no odor so that might favor ink instead of something that had been burned.
 

NC btl-dvr

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Ink well, the glass top would of had a cork or rubber ring to seal the bottle.
 

K6TIM

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Hi. Would any of you know the purpose of this object? (See four photos, attached.) It is a small metal hinged box (about 1.25 inches on each side, roughly a cube) into which is placed a small glass bottle, which appears to have been specifically made to fit inside the metal box. The metal box has no bottom at all (see photo #2), so I guess that the maker slid the bottle upwards through the bottom. (It's now wedged in there pretty tight.) When you open the latch of the box, you see the top rim of the bottle (see right side of photo # 3) and (within the lid) what appears to be a matching glass piece with a small hole in the center (see left side of photo # 3). There are no vent holes in the metal sides or lid of the box. It looks as if some substance was being burned as there is a heavy soot residue around the top rim of the bottle and also on the matching glass piece in the lid. I found this piece in a homeowner's discard pile which also contained quite a few packets and tins of very old chewing and smoking tobacco. So I'm wondering if this is a tobacco related product. Or perhaps it might be an incense or snuff burner? Or could it be a very small oil lamp? Thanks for your expertise.
I wonder if the bottom of the metal box is missing? With the green color it looks to be a army box!.What's bottle in it could be anything? Unless you can get the stuck bottle unstuck from the top of the case you might never know for sure.You never know either you can find it on the internet.
 

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