my great grandfather was a carpenter on the railroad, and this box is one of the many containers he made, in his great crusade against cardboard boxes (so I'm told anyway). I'm not totally sure what was in it originally, but it's a great fit for cards (room for 1 more deck 😌)! not too unlikely it was made for that, either, i know they loved their games -- my grandma was always playing solitaire and would love to play board games with me.
it's funny that he would instantly replace the cardboard boxes that games and toys came in with heirloom-quality, handmade wooden treasure chests, which seems like a kinda silly thing to do... and it turns out he was right! those cardboard boxes don't last and i love still having this!