What is it? Here we go again

[ironlord1963]

    Ran across this item the other day and for .99 cent I figured maybe it would be worth the post.   A couple of my friends have had some really good suggestions but had to see what you folks can come up with.   It is a figurine like object, the a center piece that comes up from the center, and has a bolt on the bottom to attach to something.  There is a small rubber ring under the center post.  It stands 5 1/2" tall and weighs 13oz.  It appears to be chrome, no marker marks, just a little mystery.   

[talesofthesevenseas]

If you push down on the post does it drop down through the cherub... like a fancy lobby desk bell?

[KC]

Looks like it would go in a bathroom.

toilet paper holder?

[ironlord1963]

     Yes the post will go down through the Cherub, but not all the way. Not spring loaded.  Yes I leaning toward the bathroom thing also.

[KC]

The rod pushes up into tine inside.....thus the arm sticks out further to hold the ever-needed toilet roll!

There should be a mounting bracket.

[cogar]

It looks to me to be "A Boy on a Dolphin", like in that older movie starring Sophia Lorean, I believe..

And with the moveable stem and a rubber gasket, me thinks that is a water valve.

Is there a hole in the mouth of the cherub? If so, that could be a “fountain” fixture that when the stem is pulled up “in the open position”, a small stream of water would spurt from the mouth.

[ironlord1963]

     No hole in the mouth, I had considered a fountain, but the inside the cherub is hollow and no real channel for water to travel through.  As for the toliet paper suggestion.  The item is only 5 1/2" tall,  just slightly bigger then a roll of toliet paper.  The shaft will only lift about 2 inches above the body of the item.

[KC]

Okay, then I should have put my initial reaction....a drapery bracket!  (Could feasibly be a towel "hook"!)

[syl]

Is the threaded rod that sticks out the bottom connected to the piece that sticks out the top?

[KC]

Not a button ! 

http://www.rubylane.com/shops/bellacasa/item/336

[ironlord1963]

     Yes the threaded rod is attached to the shaft.  The only thing stoping the removal of the rod is the nut, if you take the nut off the whole rod can be removed.

[syl]

My guess is that it bolts down to a decorative post or railing or something like that, probably interior. When bolted down like that the star shaped thingy on top would be right on top of the head. 

[GeorgeS]

Is there some significance biblically of a cherub riding on a giant carp? Seems like a strange design, wonder what it is!

[buyitonebay]

I was going to say possibly a fire sprinkler head. The type that attach to ceilings in buildings in case of a fire. I believe you stated that water wouldn't pass thru it so that's obviously wrong.

[regularjoe2]

My guess might be close .... an actuator for a modern center-mount flush valve on a 1.6 Gal. Thomas Crapper .