Nicol's Cast Iron ????

I have had this thing for many years, actually I have a few of them. The only marking is "NICOL'S ONLY" molded in the cast iron. The way it is assembled it appears to be late 1800-early 1900.

It measures 4 - 3/4 in high as shown in the first photo.

It looks like some kind of note holder missing the stick pin but it really doesn't look like it would be practical for that.

Any help would be appreciated.