Interesting, it also seems these things have been found in New England and the middle Atlantic states associated with other 18th century artifacts. The book "The American Hearth: Colonial and Post-Colonial Cooking Tools" by Richard I Barons and Devere Card illustrates a near-identical tinder pouch. Course that doesn't mean that such tinder boxes weren't made in China, Tibet, etc. The one I bought was found in an estate near Utica, New York, toward the western end of the Mohawk valley. Certainly could be mid-1800's and traded from the Far East.
