This had to be a hanging quilting frame.....they hung from the ceiling and were ratcheted up to the ceiling when not in use. There's no historical value, probably, as there were hundreds and hundreds of these things all over the US, used as recently as the 1980s that I personally saw in Alabama and Oklahoma.
If you have chairs with a back that isn't rounded or that have a short ladder back, then you also use those to support the frame instead of hanging it.
See if you can get it for less; I wouldn't pay even $15 if I could help it.
Jan in VA