What is it?

Looks like a sausage grinder to me.

That crossed my mind too but, I don't see any outlet for the finished product and it appears the bottom is hinged (unlike any sausage grinder I have used or seen).

It's some type of food grinder. The rectangle on the side is either a sliding drawer or lid that opens to let the ground up material out. Judging from the size of the handle it was probably nuts, coffee, or spices that needed a decent amount of force to crush. I doubt it's for meat since it doesn't disassemble easily for cleaning.

What does the internal part that rotates look like?

We need to see the outlet...

Del

Looks like it hinges up. See the two hinges in the front of the picture.

Nice to have a view of the other side, but I will bet it is designed to hold the finish product inside.

If you open it up and you see ground up fingers it probably belonged to some headmaster 80 years ago. ;-)

I wish I had more images from different angles. The image is from an estate auction listing some co-workers were looking at on Facebook.

I am tempted to go to the auction next week just to see it better.

Looks like the one Old Pre-chew Charlie used.

Its more than likely used to cut up lower quality meats that has a like of gristle and Collagen.

After reading much of the info from the link posted by Solar Eagle where some thought it might be a tobacco grinder. I did an image search for tobacco grinder and came up with the whole listing and not just the Facebook image.

See listing here

It is indeed a tobacco grinder. There are several more photos in the link.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction Solar Eagle

Wow, only $2.50.

Too bad I gave up smoking.

*sigh* The things we do for our health.

It looks like a nut grinder to me.

It took me a while to type "nut grinder"

I'm saying meat grinder

We are still using it until today...

This item appeared in a programme of "Baggage Battles"

Are we allowed to place on line bids here for this nut grinder ?

If so,

May I start the bidding at a quarter ?

Seeing how there is little market for this item other than selling it to a collector of antique nut grinders or a nut shop,

I figure it's worth a least a quarter at a scrap yard and even then they would be being generous.

It looks like a wind-up boiler from the engine of a steam train, minus wheels, cab and tender... but having read some posts I am beginning to have doubts.....

I remember cranking one of those as a child for my Grandmother while she made sausage.

A local gent that ran an antique store brought one to me to forge a new handle for it. He would occasionally bring items for repair, and he stated this was used as an ice crusher. Any thoughts?

Cofee grinder?

I think it is for making crushed ice.