Anybody know the purpose of this Silver Oneida hinged jar?

[beverly-horsetalk]

It opens about 1/2 way, and there is some copper color showing through in the bottom.  Perhaps it originally had a glass liner?  What would it be for?  Thank you!

[lacemaker3 · Accepted solution]

@beverly-horsetalk,

I'm just guessing, but based on the size compared to your hand, it might have been intended to hold cigarettes. Or maybe cotton swabs on a dressing table.

[pickapaper]

Just a guess but my first thought was that it might be a cigarette butt/ash collector, maybe from the days when "everybody smoked".  A person could go around and dump all their ashtray contents into this and then dispose of the contents into the trash.

[orphie1402]

It's an ice bucket. They were commonly lined with Pyrex, milk glass or even mercury glass.

[pickapaper]

I agree that it is ice bucket.  What threw me off is in the photos,  especially the one with OP's hand, it looks like it is only about four or five inches tall (not counting the bail) which I thought was too small for an ice bucket.  

[waxu_93]

It's probably something that was used in the hospital many years ago, and I saw it in the hospital when I was a kid, and they put a needle or something, and there's an alcohol pad in there to sterilize .