My m-i-l grew up with this, says her family used it as a dinner-roll server. It doesn't seem like it would be one, but I have to say it is too big to be a crumber/silent butler, and oriented in a way that only someone who has had it handed to them can access the contents.
Any other ideas on what its purpose might have been?
Saw one just like it on Etsy recently, but they just call it a scoop.