The backside really looks like it could clip into some sort of branding rod or slot into a machine somehow.
Instead of a cattle brand, maybe it is a brand for leather or wood, and the bottom brackets are to help align it against the bottom of the piece?
Longshot, but that backside almost looks like a mount for a belt loop....
It looks like a branding iron for marking wooden crates.
Maybe post it here:
http://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing
Brett_Murphy wrote: Maybe post it here: http://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing
Wow, what a great idea! Also, a great time killer, as I just read about a whole bunch of weird old stuff. 
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