It’s the basket out of an old-school washing machine, back when they were still made out of metal and perforated with zillion of little holes.
FYI, those holes are roughly 3/16 diameter and meet the legal requirement for spark suppression (1/4 inch or less) , so if you throw a pair of expanded metal screens on top you can be legal for backyard burning.
The free flow of air makes them notoriously difficult to burn out. I’ve had mine going for 10 years.
Plus, it is safer to light one of these because you can hold a flame right up to the side of it to get the paper going, instead of reaching down inside.
Bonus: the 22in replacement grate for a Weber grill fits PERFECT on the top.