it could've belonged to a tinkerer, who had it in a shed, that did a little welding and mechanic work. The shed could've been cleaned out by a fortune seeker, who cared nothing for their posterity, and simply tossed it in the pile. This happens more often than we care to know. Vices once were a common home shop tool, and even up into the 70s could be purchased new, very reasonably, through popular outlets such as Sears or Wards, and even small town hardware stores. You can take that thing apart, wire brushing any rust or gunk off of it, and putting dabs of grease where it needs greasing (such as the main shaft threads, and hold down clamp threads, if it rotates, a bit on the rotating table), and it will work as good as new, for a long, long time
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