Old, unused pen nib - for dipping into ink prior to writing, rather than fitting in one of those new fangled fountain pens... well, that might have been the jist of the conversation way back when. It was in a wee box with a load of others that my Grandfather kept in his desk. Can't remember what happened to the pens/nib holders, but decades after he died, I still have the wee box of these nibs, mostly of the type above.