Card Receiver c. 1870
Calling cards “furniture” such as this card receiver for the hallway table were popular in the mid – late 1800s. American manufacturers of electroplated goods make affordable models for the emerging middle class. The process of electroplating deposited a thin layer of silver or gold over an object made of less expensive metal.
For more information see Death in the Dining Room and Other Tales of Victorian Culture by Kenneth L. Ames, 1992.