What is this???

1400s Korea, bell??? Passed down many generations, don't know anything else

 

Looks like a bell to me. That's about all I can contribute

 

Could you shed some light on your providence for dating it back to the 1400s?

 

That's all my friend has been told about it, see what I can find

 

Welcome, @Kinee B. Waits !

 

I only know her mom came from Seoul, so assume her great, great grandmother and past family did also

 

A human 'generation' is considered to be about 25 years, give or take 5 years depending on the century you are speaking of. So you would have to add about 20 or more 'greats' to the grandmother to push the date back to the 1400s.

 

There's no clapper in it, looks like it may have been used to drink from and hangs from a string or chain.

Could it be a portable drinking cup?

Just my first WAG of the day...

 

Some bells are struck from the outside.

 

This could be, I wasn't convinced its a bell, see no sign of a ringer inside it either.

 

Ahhhh - got it on the gong possibility

 

Gongs are basically flat or bowl shaped. Bells can have an internal clapper or be designed to be tapped with an external hammer.

 

Bigger than a breadbox?

 

Whatever size it is, it is a low-quality souvenir-type item. It is most likely made of brass, whereas decent bells are made of bronze. This item was made some time after 1940. The story about it being centuries old is hogwash.