You can use it for a bouquet garni --- they work quite well for herbs, but they are called tea balls because you put loose tea in them, if you don't use tea bags. Loose tea tends to be cheaper and fresher than tea bags.

Yup. Tea ball. Looks just like the ones I grew up with. :) Because it's aluminum, it will discolor if you put it in an acidic soup or stew. It's not harmful, but the tea ball is currently spotless on the side that shows...

As the others said, a tea ball and can be used for herbs or other infusions; and one of the more common versions. Here are even more that would be better choices: https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=tea+balls&tag=mh0b-20&index=aps&hvadid=3527185622&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_584apcp20p_e. 

Personally, I don't care for aluminum with my tea or in my soup (as plllog mentioned with the acid), and as with all aluminum, don't put it in the dishwasher or it will discolor. I have a porcelain one, similar to the style of the aluminum one, that works much better.

-Grainlady

My husband just inherited it from his parents. He took it as he thought it was a tea ball and that I would like it. I then started thinking that the holes were too small for tea so I thought herbs. My in laws were not tea drinkers. Good thought about the aluminium. I will just display it. Thanks for all the responses!

This was packed away with memorabilia for things long ago so I don't think my in laws actually used it. Perhaps it belonged to one of their moms and they kept it as a keepsake.

Everyone is right. It's an old-fashioned tea ball. I have one like that and it's over 40 years old, and, yes, it's discolored. I use it exclusively for soups, stews, and other braised meals. I usually plop in whole black pepper, whole allspice, and any spices or herbs that would be hard to fish out of hot liquid. When I['m done cooking, it's easy to retrieve. The flavor is in the braise but no need to search for stray whole spices.

I've also used one similar to yours for mulling spices in hot cider.

As sigrid said: they are called tea balls because you put loose tea in them, if you
don't use tea bags. Loose tea tends to be cheaper and fresher than tea
bags. I have often heard that tea bagged product is the left over fine almost dust from the solid leaves sold to serious tea drinkers. In a word, the leaves are superior. Years ago, Consumer Reports agreed, at least for Lipton whose loose leaf tea got very high marks.

I actually make single cups of tea without a tea ball, but loose in a cup for steeping and more efficient extraction. I then pour the tea into a second cup thru a handled tea strainer and rinse the first cup with water (without washing) to the dish drainer. The strainer dumps out easier too. Tea leaves usually settle out anyway so that neither strainer nor tea ball are really needed and one could get a tea leaf reading into the bargain.

I actually use loose tea everyday. This is what I have. http://www.teavana.com/us/en/teaware/tea-makers/teavana-32-oz-perfectea-maker-011034886.html?cm_mmc=seng--GSPLA--Teaware%20%3E%20Tea%20Makers-_-32%20oz%20Perfectea%20Maker:011034886&mr:trackingCode=A97D1370-3F72-E511-80F8-0050569437F6&mr:referralID=NA&mr:device=c&mr:adType=pla_with_promotiononline&mr:ad=84965864042&mr:keyword=&mr:match=&mr:tid=pla-136065142322&mr:ploc=9005550&mr:iloc=&mr:store=&mr:filter=136065142322

I collect tea balls. Why? I don't know, rarely even drink hot tea let alone from leaf tea?? Can't tell how big yours is (didn't read everybody's post)... nothing to compare to for scale. Have a HUGE one?? At least the size of a baseball. Hinged, looks like aluminum. Thinking THIS might be a big bouquet garni container. Used to keep all those stems and leave in one place that you don't wanna eat in end product... in a MASSIVE pot of soup??

ALL were found at yard sales or flea markets. Most were fro $.05-$.50 and I many of the types on that Amazon site. Big splurge was a sterling silver one for $5. Shaped like an acorn, an initial, hinge to lid broken but have lid. If I can remember how, will post a picture.

Do you know or have you ever know anyone who read tea leaves?? Folklore?

Well, back in the 70's, lots of 'folks' I knew liked to get or give all sorts of readings. I have always considered it all to be silly nonsense but some took it very seriously.

Tea ball -- but you could use it to hang herbs into stew or soup (although I'd probably want a bigger one...)

I knew friends who read tea leaves, Nancy, but I've lost touch with them since they moved West.

You can make a single cup of tea usinga tea strainer, made especially for use in cups and mugs. Ann_T sent me one about 12-14 years ago, and I still have it - they were not common back then, but the Japanese market sold teapots that had built-in removable strainers that were similar, except they did not have handles.

My mother had the same tea ball, and I used to use it for herbs/spices, but now you can buy mesh tea balls, but I have found that these do not hold up over time, and the clasps break or fall off.

I tend to make most of my tea with tea bags, and I buy Flower Brand Assam Tea, from India, which I find at a Middle Eastern market that sells a lot of Indian food items. It's very cheap (cheaper than Lipton's), and I like it well enough to drink every day. I use one bag in my red teapot (gift from Sherry), which makes three cups of tea. For loose tea, I buy Fancy Keemun at a tea shop in Venice, close to where I used to live.