I have never seen anything quite like it, but I found something interesting on it and perhaps it is pertinent. In addition to the 'pi' and the "A" looking like a potter incised it with a stylus, is a number 15 stamped in and also what looks like 4337 under the glaze likely mould or pattern numbers. But, in addition to that is a hand painted black what looks like a "C" with a dash over it. That is the Japanese hirogana character for the vowel "U" pronounced "ewwww". This may have been painted on by the finisher as a signature mark and been an initial. If that is the case, it may have been made in Japan. That doesn't mean it's not old or not valuable if it is. That piece would have involved more work than a typical piece of pottery and it's quite pretty. It may have been made in several pieces, even. The rest of the styling is reminiscent of some early thirties/forties American art pottery. I hope you get a more definitive identification on it. I'm just going on a hunch.

I looked around in those Indian boxes for a while trying to find something similar. Is this even a "type" of box so I could find similar stuff? Like these kinds of boxes were made in the 1920s to hold letters or... something like that. Are dragons consistent with indian designs? I have some indian pieces, but they seem to have gods or elephants or horseback riders, and the like... Are the designs the best way to place the piece, or should I be trying to identify the type of wood used? Sorry if I have a lot of questions, I'm just very ignorant of antiques or whatever you would classify a box like this as.

"magnet does not adhere to it. It looks as though it was once plated with maybe a gold-colored material, like bronze or gold. " It's "pot metal" ... a cheap silvery easily cast metal that was then plated with bronze for the people who couldn't afford real bronze. The shape of the legs and stem put it somewhere in the early 1900s. Great "shabby chic" find, worth basically nothing.

Hooker Furniture had a set very similiar if not the same to this once upon a time