What is this? Powder flask/Tobacco Flask?
 

Picked this up at the weekend for next to nothing.
Can anyone tell me what it is and also where it comes from? The decoration style is familiar but I can not place it. Made of brass.
Stu

Hi Stu.

Hmmmm.....I think tobacco might be a good guess.

Rick

Perhaps it was for a mixture of both: must have been a dynamite fag:-)

I dont know wht it is, but I have found the attached picture, which is from a sales catalogue from 1974 from Elliott and Snowdon.
'Part striped wood, part iron and decorated with gold scrolls. Early 19th century.'

Hi Jens,
Thank you.
The pic you show appears to be a powder bandolier. Similar sort of thing to this one.
What I have is not from a bandolier and I suspect it is more likely for tobacco/snuff but hoped that someone here could identify the decoration style, and perhaps give a concise identification as to use.
Stu

The decoration is a little like my large 19th C hunting knife which equally I have scant idea as to origin though it was sold as a N Indian made for the European market ....

I was thinking that region also. Snuff/tobacco flasks from Afghanistan are of similar size to the item I was querying. Pics here
Stu

Something to do with betel? Possibly?
Regards
Richard

Can be also khol flasks very common in the Arab world.
i think yours is from Morocco...

Not a Khol flask...the neck is far to big. I have 3 Khol flasks in my collection and there is no resemblance.
Stu

Hi Richard. I did think of possibly a Betel container, mainly as the decoration could also be SE Asian.
Stu

This is probably a dumb question. But have you checked really well to see if any thing is left in it? I mean like with a bright flash light. Maybe even scraping the inside. Even a fleck or a small caking of something left in there might tell you a lot.

See relevant detail at http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...t=POWDER+FLASK
In the case of the powder charges in rows at #4 and #5 above ~ these are generally considered to be Ottoman and seen as far afield as Oman. Thought not to be actual gun belts but carried in a separate bag. www.Omanisilver.com refers.

Sorry it has taken a while to get around to your suggestion. What little residue there was, was a light grey in colour and when a lighted match was touched to it, there were tiny flashes which would maybe suggest gun powder.
If indeed this is a container for gunpowder, I do not believe that it is part of a "bandolier type" set. My reasoning here is that the container itself is tapered and not straight sided, and also is decorated overall, which would not be likely if held in a leather pocket of some sort.
Stu

Stu, back to betel. A grey residue could be the dried out remains of lime paste, (calcium hydroxide) I think. I believe it is the reaction of this with the other ingredients that turns saliva red. I don't know if it flares in contact with a flame.
Regards
Richard

I have owned other lime containers in the past but these have all been straight sided and bigger than this one. Not to say that it is not for betel as a suggestion was made somewhere that the decoration looked SE Asian. If from that region it COULD also have been used for powder I suppose.
Stu

Chemistry is my profession
Calcium hydroxide will not flare at all when touched with a match.
No ideas on item though
Regards
Ken