Hidden blade

[CSA2K]

Found this today and initially thought it was a 30.06 / 7mm cartridge and almost tossed it. The tip unscrews to reveal a hidden blade. There are threads below the blade.. they are smaller than the original cavity so I assume there was another piece that attached to it (in other words it cannot be "flipped over" and screwed back in). The bottom cavity also has threads so there was at least a third piece. Comes from a very productive CW era site. Any ideas

 

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[mikusek]

If it is like what my great uncle had, it was a letter opener and the missing piece was a magnifying glass. But I am not sure.

 

[CSA2K]

If it is like what my great uncle had, it was a letter opener and the missing piece was a magnifying glass. But I am not sure.

Actually I was thinking the same thing.. a magnifying glass and a pen of some sort.

The case is made of brass btw

 

[watercolor]

I wonder if that's part of a stationery or drafting kit and what you've found is the pen-knife part used for scraping/editing dried ink mistakes on paper or vellum.

Cool find!