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It bears quite a strong resemblance to a wood boring bit.

It's a conductor adjuster...

Looks like a useful reamer for making the holes in labels of 78 RPM discs. And also enlarging the center holes of discs.

The flat portion is not sharpened the way a wood bore would ne

Another guess: Might be a pipe-cleaning reamer.

It's just a give-away 'thingie' that might have found it's way into the proverbial kitchen 'tool drawer'. It's for enlarging holes in whatever. Actually... I think I remember seeing one in my parent's house when I was a kid... in that 'junk drawer' along with rusty pliers, a folding measuring rule, assorted 'church keys', and a couple of ice picks.
Here's one I found on Ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-The-New ... 257625b14b

Good for making new holes in hand-me-down leather belts and puncturing coconuts to drain the milk.

Thanks Dan!

O.K., what would a music store and a cleaners have in common that might need reaming? What's the size of the resulting hole? About 5/16?

And why don't we need this tool to ream things any more? Everything comes pre-reamed nowadays?

jsmn4vu wrote:O.K., what would a music store and a cleaners have in common that might need reaming? What's the size of the resulting hole? About 5/16?

That's the point. These two businesses have nothing in common other than they both were called upon by a novelty/advertising salesman. Judging from the overall appearance and the approximate length given... the tip of the gadget probably ranges from near 0" to perhaps 3/16".

When I was a kid, I remember using an ice pick to do the same jobs... new holes in belts, etc. At least with this gizmo, it probably wasn't possible to fall on it and kill yourself! Poke your eye out or threaten your little sister maybe.