What is this? It's a stumper!

[cambriachick]

Hi folks, this is part of the big tool lot I bought.  It's made of metal, fairly lightweight and measures 6 inches tall and 10.5 inches long.  I'm clueless on this one !   As always, I appreciate the help.  TIA

[ckimodog]

@cambriachick 

Perhaps a frame from a retro end table, minus the glass?? Just a guess. 

[pls-consignments]

Looks almost upside down and appears to have housed something with a similar shape. The tabs are bent in enough to bring the container flush when flipped over. Was there a plastic or sheet metal container of the same shape somewhere? 

[reallynicestamps]

Any sign of fire on the legs?
My first thought was a stand to hold pots or pans when open hearth cooking.

At 3:12 on this YT video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyuy2btBipg

[wastingtime101]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

My first thought was a stand to hold pots or pans when open hearth cooking.

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This is along what I was thinking: a trivet for cooking over the fire, or a stand of some sort. Plenty of fireplace trivets have those curved in feet.

It's definitely not big enough to be any kind of table frame @ckimodog - see measurements in OP. 😉

[dirk12955]

To hold a cast iron skillet over an open flame??

Round part that holds the food sits on the three prongs and the end of the 

skillets handle sits on prong #4

A WAG on my part.  

[cambriachick]

Wow, the cooking stand sounds good, so I'll explore that option.  There weren't any parts or sheets by it in the boxes I got, but they were just a jumbled up mess.  There is corrosion on the legs, but it's so old and gnarly, I can't tell if it's from fire.

Thank you all very much:)