Found this at a antique store in Missouri. The drawers are all sheet metal with metal loop handle welded on. There is only that very small lip created by the metal fold. The stand appears to have been built in. Store worker had no idea what it was for. 

Apothecary? Never seen a metal one, though. 

Didja lug it home?

No he wanted 450 for it. I did catch the owner and he said the guy he bought it from had bolts and nuts in it. I just cannot see it being built for that purpose

$450 seems a bit high, I'd have walked as well.  Of course I prefer the free myself but I will do a @steven newman and offer $3.  

 

 

It appears to be an office filing system.  It appears that the back is off the box/drawer.  Very interesting.  Yes, it would be wonderful for hardware storage.  

Might have been from a Hardware Store....different sized nuts, bolts and washers.....each "drawer" would have a label as to what was inside....you told the clerk want you needed, and he would "pick" the parts you wanted, put them in a paper bag, and make out the bill.  Seem to remember similar "cupboards" in the old Hardware Store my late FIL ran, and his father before him.   Kinnan's Hardware, DeGraff, OH....after WW2, it became Kinnan Armstrong Hardware.   They sold it back in the 70s.....

$450??!!??. No way. 

Strange... the "drawers" look more like scoops of some sort.

3 hours ago, Larry Buskirk said:

Strange... the "drawers" look more like scoops of some sort.

That is weird. Maybe for nuts and bolts or, something that would stay put when you pull the drawer out to dump a couple in a sack.

18 minutes ago, Gene Howe said:

That is weird. Maybe for nuts and bolts or, something that would stay put when you pull the drawer out to dump a couple in a sack.

If they were for hardware, I'd have to wonder how many times whatever was in them got dumped all over the place.

I'll bet they were Post Office boxes back in the good old days when we didn't need locks.  The worker behind the counter would retrieve the mail from you box for you when you came in to get it.