What are these threaded holes for ?

Just curious. Do the lower set screws have brass, or bronze tips?
 
If you really have to know (probably a good idea?) just CAREFULLY take the thing apart as much as you dare to satisfy your curiosity. You are unlikely to break it or mess it up if you take your time and choose proper tools.

(Side bar - as a kid I seriously abused an antique microscope as I only had cheap jewelers screw drivers and pliers. It was 40 years later or more before I found out that the stupid knob on the neck was a differential screw for fine adjustment. At the time I just couldn't figure out what the heck it was for or how it came apart)

Having the upper lock the lower makes sense. The lower are used to adjust the jaw motion/friction. It needs to slide but lifting needs to be limited to the absolute minimum. Odd that it doesn't use dovetails and side gibs but I don't know much about vise design. The T form is probably(?) stronger and easier to machine.

On second thought, maybe just leave it alone unless you want to learn how to properly adjust it.

You commented that you haven't used it much or don't use it - I'd be happy to relieve you of its possession :p.
 
OK, I took a more careful look and found that under each set screw, there is another set screw of the same socket size.

It appears that the top screw is for locking the one beneath it. Now I tend to believe that those screws serve the purpose mentioned by dbb-the-bruce in his reply above, ie, adjusting the fitting between the movable block and the vice bed like those for adjusting the gibs of dove-tails. Has anyone seen such design on vices ?
One of my machine vises has a double set screw like that to hold the moving jaw to the nut. It's an older import that came from Taiwan as well. I bought it at an auction and it was still in the original packing that had to be 20 years old.
 
Matchling makes some pretty wild stuff , I don't even want to look at the price list .
 
Given the presence of the verniers on both axes of rotation, they suggest a piece of kit designed for some pretty precision stuff. While it would be easy to discount the design based on the idea that the adjustment screws are there to accommodate mediocre machining tolerances, other features argue against that idea. If you take it apart I'd guess you will find it's all very well made.
 
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