This galvanised bucket was used during WW2 for preservation of eggs as they were a rare commodity. One of these resides in the imperial war museum, so not only is it an interesting & quirky thing it is also a piece of important British History.
 
Food rationing and and shortages during WW2 meant that the allotted one egg per person per week was sometimes reduced to one egg per fortnight. This was an incentive for people to keep their own chickens, households owning less than twenty hens were allowed to keep all the eggs they produced. Any surplus could be preserved in a pail like this, filled with isinglass, a gelatinous substance produced from the air-bladders of certain fish, for example sturgeon (used today for clarifying in wine and beer making).
 
The bucket is complete with its inner basket however this is removable and could be cleaned and used as a waste paper basket.
 
Measurements:
Overall 37cm x 29cm high,
Without the lid 29cm high x 31cm top diameter x 22cm base diameter.