Wooden machinist's chest

I found this for $15 at a flea market outside Erinsville.  I had to strap it on the back of my motorcycle to bring it home!

Below, after I stripped off the old varnish and refinished it:

It looks to me like it's been made from another chest, and rather inexpertly at that.  The top handle is a brass door handle. Unlike the top three maple drawers, the bottom drawer is made from oak and has a different recessed pull.  The top has some odd holes that have been roughly plugged with dowels:

What would have gone in the place occupied by the central dowel and six smaller dowels around it?  And why, if he was blanking them off, would he have bothered to cut a semi-circle around them in the aluminum bracing, unless the bracing was original to the box?

The dovetails on the carcass are quite deep, suggesting that this box is old:

If it could talk, I'm sure it would have some interesting stories to tell.  Anyway, it's now been put back to work holding small tools in my shop.