Small container year 1835?

[Gi_Jungle]

My wife and I have bets on this. She says military I say inkwell or crude snuffbox.

 

[vhs07]

It held different size weights to use on a scale, they stacked inside one another.
I've never saw such a small one before



Charles

 

[skeeterd]

Great ID Charles!

 

[kuger]

Called nesting weights.Great find if you dug it.I have dug nearly the whole set individually but never the "case",that you have.If you want to sell it let me know

 

[Mackaydon]

As 'vhs' mentioned, the weights were used on a scale--as a counterbalance to what is being weighed; not as a cup to fill.
Finding the two cups that most closely balanced the material being weighed--like gold dust and nuggets--would give a close approximation to the actual weight of the material on the other side of the scale.
The smallest cup would be covered by a cap, called a pill--one of the first objects in the collection to get lost. Finding the entire 'collection' ('pill' weights and 'case') can produce full value; anything less and the value is halved--or worse.

Nuremberg Germany produced many of these nested weights--and they were heavily replicated.
Don...

 

[vhs07]

As 'vhs' mentioned, the weights were used on a scale--as a counterbalance to what is being weighed; not as a cup to fill.
Finding the two cups that most closely balanced the material being weighed--like gold dust and nuggets--would give a close approximation to the actual weight of the material on the other side of the scale.
The smallest cup would be covered by a cap, called a pill--one of the first objects in the collection to get lost. Finding the entire 'collection' ('pill' weights and 'case') can produce full value; anything less and the value is halved--or worse.

Nuremberg Germany produced many of these nested weights--and they were heavily replicated.
Don...

Thanks for the info. I have a set of these but my set is about four inches tall and weighs probably 5 or 6 pounds.
I never knew about the cap or 'pill', which did not survive in my set. Good to know.

 

[kuger]

Thanks for the info. I have a set of these but my set is about four inches tall and weighs probably 5 or 6 pounds.
I never knew about the cap or 'pill', which did not survive in my set. Good to know.

Yes,I have dug the big and small sets.The set in question would have started with the biggest being 4oz,and the smallest being 1/8 ounce,as said I have never dug the "container"