Ethno yes, Miscellania yes, but what ?
 

I have posted this one long time ago and, despite (partly) favourable answers, i am not satisfied myself with the suggestion i brought of what this thing would be.
The proposal was that this is a pistol locker; the (optional) vent and orifice with the lock to secure the trigger guard and all that.
I have being paging small arms books trying to spot a gun that would fit in this case; only found one in a thousand.
I thought that, by re-posting it in this new section, would atract a range of members more motivated to crack this type of riddle.
It was bought in a local (Portuguese) street fair ... from a Galician seller; it might as well be a type of thing restricted to the Iberian Peninsula; i wonder :shrug:

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Is it possible that it might be the top of container used for tea/ spice/alcohol/drugs? Something that the owner of the house wished to deny access to by servants?

Hard to tell the scale of the carving you have from the photos, but it looks like it would house a short barreled revolver pretty easily with that shape?

that was also my impression. may have been custom made to fit that 1:1000 revolver.

I wouldn't reject Alan's suggestion that it could a lock of a container with something attractive enough to entice others to pinch from it.

The gun lock idea still makes me skeptical.
But for the sake of fantasy, here are dimensions of the 'device' and the simulation of a 1:1000 revolver locked into it.

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Hi
Are there 2 sets of holes on both sides
Is the one closest to the open end also a slot
Is it all one piece

I do not know what it is but it is only a detergent to stop someone playing/messing with whatever was locked inside, like the old tea caddies or a spirits tantalus
it could be smashed if someone really wanted the item inside so I would not think it is a gun item
I like this sort of thing and will ponder longer
Regards
Ken

All duly noted, Ken.
Both sides have a slot closest to the open end.
Yes, it is only one piece.
Worthy of note is that the inside bottom is completely flat through all three sections and not conical or pointy as if it were drilled. Whatever tool used, it looks as it was milled.
This thing sure looks like having been made with a significant master labour.
Not to exclude that its roundish shape at the close end could be a means of hanging it in some profiled section; like one only a multiple rack.

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