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It's a Thimble Safe.
A seamstress, quilter or anyone that sews items by hand might use a container like this to store their personal thimble they wear on a finger when they are sewing and need the thimble to push the needle through the fabric.
It's usually part of a set of sewing tools or tool containers that are attached to a chain or pinned to a sash that the sewer wears to have all her tools handy. The entire setup is referred to as a chatelaine.
In the attached picture, the acorn shaped item second from right is the thimble safe.
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