During the 2nd World War in Poland they used to have these hand carved tea caddys which Nazi soldiers were unaware that they secretly stored live ammunition rounds for the home guard of Poland to quickly retrieve wherever they may end up fighting on the home front.The lid helped secure the secret but it always ensured that whichever street or house they were fighting near they could retrieve ammunition at any given moment.

These Two caddies were brought from poland after the war to England where they have sat for two generations in a town house in Cheshire owned by a Polish lady who once worked in a bullet factory and once got paid to pack tea in a German owned factory.

Both caddies have a beautiful patina and are possibly walnut , they are definately a dark hardwood.