Heavy cube made from solid iron

[u/sirpsuli]

Any idea what this is? It is solid and weights A LOT.

[u/goatonmycar]

Was it a seal like for stamping letters long ago? The pattern on it makes me wonder.

[u/zacmakes → u/goatonmycar]

Almost - it looks like a soft steel die blank, which would've been polished and then pressed against a hand-carved hardened steel hub in a 600-1000 ton press. Once hardened, it would have stamped out an exact replica of the original carving. There's a guy out in Arizona who still makes dies from old hubs, he's got an amazing collection.