Need assistance please: What is this thing?!?!
by Ron
(Visalia CA)
I recently rented a room in my friends ranch style home and this item was part of the furnishings - intended for me to use as a bedside table. I asked my friend about this piece and he did not have a clue as to what it was. He got it from his grandfather who has passed on and was considering using it as firewood!!
I have a photo of my dad that shows him with a stool back in the early 1900's - there were certain jobs that required one to sit on a stool all day such as cow milkers, shoe shiners etc and he had something similar to this that he put his lunch and ice in. A stool and lunchbox all in one. I don't think that this item is the same, but it is unique in its own way.
Any information anyone can provide would be most helpful - as I need to prove to my friend that it is worth more than firewood...
Thank you for your help!
"396" is burned/stamped on the bottom
