A lovely 18th century antique tinder box made from elm wood, the interior with a piece of flint, an old steel and still retaining its original damper lid.
These antique treen tinder boxes were rarely made in wood. They have  a divided interior one for storage of the flint, steel etc and the other known as the hearth. This is where the flint would be rubbed against the steel to create sparks to light either bits of material or wood. This would then be used to light the candles and fires. The damper lid would then be used to extinguish any sparks, hence why wood was not a great choice of material.
 Note the build up of carbon to this section.
 
It measures 31cm h x 11.5cm w x 7.5cm d