I don't see many with a knob on top and they're mostly hinged .....so I'd venture...something other than a pill box. ( oh...& surely not this..........
Am I seeing correctly? About 2" diameter? Stud box, patch box (although, I think the date of the box might be past the time period of patches)
Stamp box? It's round, but you never know. Random whatsit box, most likely. It would work a treat for paper clips, etc too, or hair pins.
Can be used for whatever one likes, but was most likely sold as a saccharine box, would have originally had tiny matching tongs - mid 20th century... ~Cheryl
Geez...mom had one of those....tongs and all...in brass with green enamel ..... kinda like this...from Israel !
If that is silver, I'd start polishing it, because it looks bloody ugly! I'd say it was probably used for studs, cufflinks etc. I've seen a lot of boxes similar to this (but never in silver).
These were very common items in the 1950s-60s - have at least one clip from the era in my files, showing similar - can post it later... https://www.google.com/search?site=...p..0.15.1419.2..0j41j0i24j0i10i24.AL1tQoN8VS0 https://www.google.com/search?site=...3.NKk6VOG-WzY#tbm=isch&q=saccharine+box+tongs ~Cheryl
I forgot about saccharine. All my friends mothers had those little containers on the kitchen tables. I've even picked up a few in the past few years. Most of the ones I have collected are animals or birds, some with the original spoon or tongs.
