In the 18th and 19th century, women had "etuis" - little decorative cases, usually with a hinged lid, with individual slots to hold household and personal items like a hairbrush, a pencil, a flask of perfume, sewing stuff. This is an "etui" in miniature, a golden egg-shaped one engraved in France in the late 19th century. The tools are all completely useless and can't be removed. If you grip the tiny scissors and try, you'll find the hidden compartment where a woman might have stored yet another kind of secret useful item. What was it? Can't say.