Odd wood artifact

Last weekend Somerset County had all historical museum houses open with free admission.  At the Dr. John Vermeulen House in North Plainfield, I was chatting with one of the volunteers.  She brought out a wooden artifact/fitting, which they found in the basement, but have been unable to identify (it does not appear to be a part from the house).

The lower part is about 5" high, and the upper about 1.1/2".  They are a perfect fit, but there is no center post or spindle, so they were not intended to rotate.

Does anyone have any idea what this might be?

A press of some sort. It looks like it has a latch buckle at the front opposite the hinge. Why it was nailed together in that offset triangle I cannot figure. The flat sections to either side make me wonder if those are to be stepped on to hold it in place during its use. 

Wait, this is two pieces without a hinge? Did I get fooled by the lower pic?

I think it’s the base and cap of a round column. The thicker part is the base.

No hinges or metal parts (other than the 3 nails someone nailed through the top).  And no cavity in the center.  The 'device' is obviously old (plenty of little 'worm' holes, which are not visible in the photos).

The property was used as a dairy farm from 1805 or so, till about 1900.  They found plenty of butter implements, including those forms used to shape the top of the butter with the dairy's logo.

My thought was that it's some sort of "grinder" for seeds or beans or the like, though I thought there was only one center hole into which a metal or wooden connector could be inserted to hold to keep the top and bottom in position while in use.  But the THREE holes have me stumped.  Looks like Feet could be placed on each side of the bottom, and hands used on the top sides to move back & forth for grinding.  My 2 cents.

It looks possible that the nails were not original to this pairing. Maybe when it stopped being useful for its original purpose they nailed the two pieces together to repurpose as a stand for something.

My completely uneducated guess on the original use: Pie dough rolling board:

• Put a ball of dough in the middle. 
• Smoosh flat with the top piece. 
• Remove top piece. 
• Use a rolling pin the long way to roll dough flat and fit to the round shape. 
• Trim dough off around the edges. 
• Put in a pie tin. 
• Then repeat with the next dough ball.

sprout said:

My completely uneducated guess on the original use: Pie dough rolling board

I’d definitely try it.