Fabric printing blocks were traditionally made of wood, making it more likely that this plate was used for other purposes such as leather embossing. Heated metal plates were pressed into leather to create intricate designs on book covers, saddles, or upholstery.

Some historical wallpaper making techniques also used iron plates to add texture and raised patterns or it could have been part of a 19th- or early 20th-century industrial press, shaping decorative metal panels or other materials.