A conteir

[amizengo]

We have found a container weighs 1000gm with a mark and writtings on it.A man wearing an iron helmet with a bird on one side and writtgs on the other.
We want to know what is it and sell it.
Please help me find buyers.

 

[A2coins]

looks like it fell off a spaceship

 

[paleomaxx]

The label mentions mercury; based on the size and the taped over electrical wires on top I would guess an antique mercury relay. In any case, if it contains mercury don't ship it by air.

 

[joe_dirt]

I have no idea what it is but it's certainly interesting looking it's hard to tell from the pics but what does the writing on the plate say?

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Interesting piece...

 

[Red-Coat]

This is a very old thread, I know, but I found it from your profile after you recently posted what you thought might be a 'diamond' (it isn't).

What you have here is part of a "German Duss Red Mercury" contraption with a date of 1914, sometimes referred to as a "stove". It's a worthless piece of junk, usually sold as part of a scam in various German Colonial African countries, trading on the (false) belief that (non-existent) substance "red mercury" has special properties and can be exploited as a heat source among other things. The helmeted guy will probably have "King Keizer" (or "Kaiser") written below but it's not clear enough to read in your picture.

Some brief details at the link below but if you Google those terms above you'll find more, and pictures of various flask-like containers sold in similar scams.

Cooking with Red Mercury

Folks still want to prove to me the Red Mercury exists and while I knew about the rumors linking Singer sewing machines and landmines to the hoax substance, John from Uganda wrote to me to let me k…

landminesinafrica.wordpress.com