very nice trim on this case, it's magnetic, polished up like stainless, there is no rust - clearly it's much nicer than the mixture of junk made in Taiwan and made in Japan tools that are in it - anyone recognize it?  there are no names or marks (other than a prior owner's name on the bottom), surely someone has seen this before.....

I don't know who polished it up all shiney like, it was likely black or dark grey paint originally.

In any case, the embossed lid says Craftsman all the way :)

I believe it should have=V= series sockets in it....

Except for the socket tray, is identical to my 1947 Craftsman quarter inch drive set.   Somebody must of had time on their hands to buff it to that degree!

well, I just buffed it - there was no paint on it at all - it only took a few minutes - it sure acted like stainless steel - are you sure this was originally painted?  I didn't see any paint residue at all anywhere.

Mine, and every one I've seen, has a rough surface grey paint.   Not real krinkle like a Kennedy box, but rough.  It probably shines cause it was from pretty good stuff back then.  Put some wax on it now so it stays shiny. 

John is right, it originally had rough dark gray paint with an orange or red Craftsman oval logo in the center.
Depending on the set, could have been BE or =V= series and would have consisted of any or all of: ratchet, sliding T, flex head breaker. extensions and speed handle.

for your guys who have original ones - are they painted on the inside?  does the metal have a plain steel color where you can see it or is it stainless colored like this one?  I'm wondering if there was maybe a special stainless one - since there is no rust at all, I'm suspicious that this isn't plain old steel

Stick a magnet on it

I checked what I have and there are two variations to that box. 
One has the dark gray paint, a wide extended lip around both the lid and bottom, wider spacing of the raised lines on the cover and the socket section doesn't have the holes and the sockets and tools were BE series.
The second, which you have, has straight sides[no lip], narrower spacing of the raised lines on the cover and the individual holes for the sockets.  This box was painted with the hammered gray, inside and out, and had a paper label [oval with the Craftsman bar through the center] and the sockets and tools were =V= series.
Hope this helps.

It took expert skill to polish that Craftsman box like that.
Definitely not original.
  Better than original, by a very wide margin.
 
Keep super care of it. I expect the finish is fragile.
  You'll never see another.
   yours Scott

Look what came up on eBay this morning:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-CRAFTSMAN-V-SERIES-3-8-RATCHET-TOOLS-6-DEEP-WELL-SOCKETS-W-OLD-BOX-/121007560418?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c2c9cd6e2

Looks like a recent layer of silver spray paint, but there's the same box and some sockets and a ratchet with it.

I've never seen that type box for a 3/8 set and have doubts that the box is for that ratchet and sockets.  I've be very interested in seeing the inside of that box.  That particular ratchet is too long for the box the OP is asking about.

Thought I'd post pics of the two sets I discussed earlier for the OP.

the set I have looks like the photo "v set 2" - is the inside of that unit painted? I'm still wondering over the complete lack of rust.

 Heres a set I got yesterday. Yes the inside of the case was painted. The only paint on the whole thing is two small patchs on inside of cover. Wonder why they lost almost all of their paint. Maybe poor surface prep or maybe mechanics have hands like sandpaper.