A coal scuttle or coal hod is a metal pail used to carry and hold pieces of coal intended to stoke a fire for heating.
My family used both wood and coal to heat our home, and I still remember splitting and stacking firewood and carrying in firewood to the home several times a day. When we used coal for heating, it had to be carried from the coal shed in a pail each day- and it definitely heated better than wood.
Yesterday, I was given a coal scuttle filled with coal that my father had hand-picked at a sale to display near my fireplace (alas, electric).
Living Miss Marple 