Older enameled brass box

trying to get an idea of the age and origin of this little brass box. It is 3 1/2" square and you can either open up the lid or pull the whole top out of the bottom. Any ideas?

TIA, Bryan

 

Hi,
Looks like a 1950s ashtray. Had removable try for cleaning.
greg

 

Not doubting you but ashtray seems fishy to me. Are you fairly sure? Greg you have never steered me wrong but just does not seem right to me

 

Looks like Japanese cloisonné and specifically by Inaba. Does it have a mark on the bottom or inside?

 

Like this mark above "made in Japan"
.

 

Hi,
I usually say if I think I am right it just might be. I am kind of sure that this is an ashtray. In the 50s people started to quit smoking or "hid" that they were smoking. There were a lot of cigarette boxes and ceramic holders some musical. The days of little vases holding cigarettes at place settings were disappearing. I remember my aunt who was a 3 pack a day smoker carried a mint box in her handbag in case she was at a place that had no ashtrays.
greg

 

No marks at all

 

Don't mean to dispute you, but wasn't that more in the 1960s when that started to happen.
I was in 8th grade in 65. We had to watch a movie about smoking and what it did to lungs. Also it was about that time the Surgeon General's warning on packages was required.

 

Hi Pat,
It was the 50s when cigarette smoking was still in its prime but It was a time to "hide" the truth more. There was such an avalanche of smoking not in the open but more hidden. It was always fine to to have open packs everywhere in the 40s. In the 50s with the prosperity you started to find cigarette boxes made of brass and copper to hold lots of smokes but not displayed. My favorite was one brought back from Italy which was a piece of fancy porcelain which opened up on the sides. As you opened a side to select a smoke music played. No where did any of them show a cigarette but it was all hidden. I remember in the 40s when there was four or five cigarettes in an urn at each place setting. Did not matter if you smoked or not. The 50s was a time to hide them, The 60s was a time to gloriously demonstrate government was NOT going to tell you what you could or not do. Ashtrays became very large gorgeous colored pieces of art that just about covered the coffee tables.
The 50s had stands of small sterling silver covered edges. When i got my first paying job after all that studying in 1962. I blew my first paycheck on a wonderful large Waterford crystal ashtray. I remember it was $112.00. I still have the dang thing around here. It has a chipped edge but it is still beautiful. I thought I ARRIVED.
greg

 

I love the flowers on the lid!! Probably no smell inside??