This is a Mongolian fire steel. The steel striker has a pocket which holds the flint and edelweiss seed fluff (I'm not sure of the edelweiss part, although that's what I was told). The small brass tab on the flap hooks into the brass tab on the pocket to hold it closed.
Canon PowerShot G12, f/3.2 @ 8.9 mm, 1/30, ISO 800, No Flash
© Alan Lapp and Zina Deretsky
