I work at The Collection Museum and Usher Art Gallery in Lincoln, UK as front of house member off staff, and as long as I've been here there's been this weird box at the back of the art gallery. The information for the public that usually goes up next to the art/artefacts is absent and no one I work with can tell me what it is, where it's from, and how old it is. Let alone it's purpose. Is it art? Is it a historical artefact? Can you help me /r/AskHistorians ? http://imgur.com/a/Buvac
It's [Burmese c. late 19th/early 20th c.] (https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/401afp/whats_this_weird_old_box_i_found_at_the_museum_i/)
I can't help as to the direct identity of the object, but I can give you some different avenues of search perhaps. Forgive me if you've already tried these, but I figured they were worth mentioning.
Just throwing this out there, but is there an object or collection number on the bottom by any chance?
If not, it might still be in your collection database. You can try searching for related terms (such as chest, claw foot, and so forth).
Generally we don't put "Please Do Not Touch" tags on objects that aren't pieces of the collection. Could be the paperwork just never got done or got lost. Happens a depressing amount of the time.
Maybe post to /r/whatisthisthing/ and see if anyone knows.
I'd really like some help as members of the public often ask me what it is, and I can't help them.
Your registrar or collections manager will know what it is. They'll have a log of all accessions within the museum.