The manufacturers (R. W. Coan THE Aluminium Foundry 219 Goswell road London) of this RATHER SPECIAL Great War era cigar box or cigarette case were WW1 British Government MILITARY CONTRACTORS that specialised in AIRCRAFT PARTS

They produced high quality sand casting in ALLOYS which were both RARE & EXPENSIVE around the time of the Great War ......As alloy manufacture required vast quantities of ELECTRICAL ENERGY and electricity was NOT as widespread before 1920 as what we take-for-granted today.

(NZ's Tiwai Point smelter a good example, not online before 1971, it NEEDED its OWN hydro-electric DAM to provide enough electrical energy to even operate)

The previous owner claimed that this case was rendered from a Zeppelin shot-down over London in WW1, when I researched the company on Mr Google it seemed HIGHLY PROBABLE that his claim was correct, sadly I could not guess WHICH of the many downed Zeppelins it might have been, but possiby the FIRST one would be treated "specially", there certainly WAS a LOT of "spare alloy" available to make this case

SUPERB condition entirely undamaged

The PHOTO of Prince Edward as a then Midshipman aboard HMS Hindustan looks a lot like this RARE image of a Royal smoking

Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire, and Emperor of India, from 20 January 1936 until his abdication on 11 December the same year, after which he became the Duke of Windsor.

Edward was the eldest son of King George V and Queen Mary. He was created Prince of Wales on his sixteenth birthday, nine weeks after his father succeeded as king. As a young man, he served in the British Army during the First World War and undertook several overseas tours on behalf of his father.