What is this?

[tmenyc]

No idea. Also marked Germany, but from before 1948 or after reunification?

 

[woodchucker]

well, if its not meant to hold those split rivets...

it might be a brush holder. My dad had one that was different from Germany, with the nazi swastika emblazened. It was wartime.
it had a brush for your beard in it to lather it up. since that doesn't have the brush maybe it's for pills, or since the slot on the side, maybe for twine.

 

[Ken from ontario]

The rivets look very similar to nail rivets used in leathercraft

​

 

[francist]

Could be a sewing needle case, they were very common although a lot of the time you see them out of wood.

-frank

 

[tmenyc]

Interesting to me also that it says Germany, not Deutschland. Made for US market?

 

[francist]

Might also be a holder for pencil leads — did you come across it with some pens you bought perhaps? I have a rather ornate mechanical pencil that belonged to my grandfather in pre-war Europe. Still has some leads in in it, they were maybe 1mm thick but I don’t know how long they would have been at beginning.

 

[tmenyc]

Francist, that was my first thought, but those are always little cylinders to keep the leads lined up. And, old leads were always longer than this container.

 

[woodchucker]

Francist, that was my first thought, but those are always little cylinders to keep the leads lined up. And, old leads were always longer than this container.

And it doesn't explain the slot in the side in the middle.

 

[CluelessNewB]

Corkscrew missing the screw part.

 

[benmychree]

Corkscrew missing the screw part.

Nailed it!