Mystery object: Candle-holder or gauge?

Maybe I have too much time on my hands, but I was fascinated by a post on BoingBoing yesterday about a mystery object that someone inherited from their grandmother, a metal contraption with three square supports (each with a circular hole in it) and a long articulated neck with two joints, ending in a point. The whole thing folds up into a square so as to be portable. BoingBoing writer Mark Frauenfelder posted it in order to get people’s thoughts about what it might be, and some of the answers are fascinating — in fact, I encourage you to read through them before jumping to the end to find out what it is. I actually thought some of the theories (there are more theories and pictures of the object here) were far more interesting than the reality.

Tagged as: Cool, mystery, object