Small Copper Box

[CarolinaFinder2011]

Found this small copper box today. Can anyone tell how old it might be from the way it was made or what it might have been used for? Thanks

 

[High Plains Digger]

Purse. Teenagers liked them a few years back. Looks pretty impractical. Perhaps the owner agreed, and buried it so it would never bug her again. The smaller it was, the more stylish it was.

 

[creskol]

When I was in high school shop class back in the 1960's, we made tea boxes about that size, and with the craftsmanship displayed in yours (or lack thereof), it wouldn't surprise me if your copper box is a product of a shop class project as well.

 

[bradyboy]

strikes me as a class project as well
seems a bit crude
any markings on it?
Brady

 

[High Plains Digger]

I wouldn't argue too hard against a shop project, but remember that the stuff coming out of India in the 1970's wasn't very high quality. Cheap enough for 10-12 year olds to afford.

 

[bradyboy]

look at the solder under the inside top cover
Brady

 

[CarolinaFinder2011]

Maybe the purse trend will come back and I will sell. I didn't see any marking on it and that's why I was wondering if it might be really old because of how crudely it seemed to have been made. Thanks HPD, Creskol, bradyboy

 

[High Plains Digger]

Hmmmm....rough work, bad soldering job, lots of poor quality craftsmanship..........yep! India. Ok, just joshing. If creskol says he made one, who am I to argue? By the way, where is the one you made? Did you scratch your initials in it anywhere?

 

[creskol]

Hmmmm....rough work, bad soldering job, lots of poor quality craftsmanship..........yep! India. Ok, just joshing. If creskol says he made one, who am I to argue? By the way, where is the one you made? Did you scratch your initials in it anywhere?

Most of the stuff from India was brass and not copper, wasn't it? No, I made the tea box over 45 years ago, and it was given to my mother. Lord only knows what happened to it from there. And all I said is we made tea boxes about that size, with the thought being that this thing could be a shop project.
Not saying it is and not saying it isn't .. just that it might be a possibility.

 

[High Plains Digger]

Perhaps that was when the crazy Uncle Bob sat on it, and it was quietly spoken of as the "TB Incident" around the hearth at family gatherings to this date. And you thought he had sustained the "tired butt" syndrome but all the "old folk" knew it was the Tea Box that changed the course of history.

 

[Breezie]

I've always called the 'cricket boxes.' Some were made with decorative holes in them. I guess the crickets needed a place to escape.
http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/victorian-art-nouveau-carved-copper-cricket
Breezie

 

[ivan salis]

could be a modern indain made copy of a old spice / tea box -- long ago when britain ran india-- tea and spices ( like sugar and cinnamon) were very valuible and often kept under lock and key to keep for being "pinched" by the poor indain help - often the mistress of the house had the key and only doled out the spices to the cook / maid on a as needed basis .--note the lockible latch on the box.

 

[Zephyr]

The top handle looks like it came off a small drawer, so I vote shop project as well....

 

[High Plains Digger]

And the latch is installed upsidedown. Ok, forget about India, but I never took metal shop so I don't know what y'all made there. I was taking electronics where everything I learned in 1969 became totally obsolete, sorta like the cathode ray tube testing machines in the grocery store.

 

[creskol]

And the latch is installed upsidedown. Ok, forget about India, but I never took metal shop so I don't know what y'all made there. I was taking electronics where everything I learned in 1969 became totally obsolete, sorta like the cathode ray tube testing machines in the grocery store.

I took electronics as well. In fact, I built my first Heath-kit metal detector in that class in 1968.