Maybe A Challenge To Far

Weird, being in reverse makes me wonder if they were meant for printing or some sort of arts and crafts. Maybe even used to make different impressions for sealing wax on old letters.

I keep thinking about this, I'm wondering if one sticks out of the hole in the lid when they are all in the tube. May be missing one or two thou. I'm still thinking it is for sealing wax.

"Ever Sincere" with a quill
"Hope in Thee" and an anchor, letter to a sailor maybe.

It looks like there was something on the side of the tube, a label or seal of some kind. Can you make it out at all or is it too badly damaged?

Cool find. The tube reminds me of a shell casing 50cal?
John1

This is driving me crazy, I think I need to talk to someone about being obsessive, maybe later... but for now I'm seeing red marks on "ever sincere" and the scales, could that be wax?

If they don't stick out maybe try putting one or two in the lid and holding it down with you forefinger like a thimble, and holding the lid with middle finger and thumb, would that make it push out of the hole to make a signet for wax.

Here's my "Mister Science" idea put a piece of wax paper on a cookie sheet, place a candle on it then put it in a hot oven for a few minutes, let it melt then cool a bit, maybe even get the metal cool in the fridge. Then try to impress them into it. If you are more Jerry Lewis than Mister Science you may not want to try that thou

Yes, it's a seal. The surprising thing is that the impressions are in European languages and from countries with historically high standards of literacy.
To explain, seals of this type were used by scribes, professional letter writers, in the far east and to a lesser extent latin america. After penning a missive to your loved one(s)he would attach a suitable seal to the letter, probably as a form of window dressing.
The tube should contain enough brass slugs to fill it so that when closed, the seal to be used protrudes through the ring.

To me, it seems that I agree with the one who stated it might be trench art. After all those countries were fighting side by side. 12mm sounds a lot like the width of an average shell width, and 50mm sounds about right for it; being "High Tech" with that size of a bullet. I think it's trench art as well. Good stuff, that is.

Babelfish translation to English:

THREE seals bronze 1 - cylinder seal of time 19th-century Brasseux engraver at the Royal Palace including 20 seals double-sided brass decorated with emblems of currencies. Snowh.: 7 (English)

amazing how finding the one leads to another, found this slightly different one on Bonhams http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/16304/lot/330/