Here’s one of those odd crazes that you’d probably forgotten about until now – I certainly had, and I’m not even sure quite why they popped back into my head. In the early Eighties (or it might have been late Seventies) there was a fad for these funny little metal balancing ornaments.
I’m not sure if there was a “proper” or official make of these ornaments, but there were certainly a great many cheap knock offs available, especially in knock down price gift shops, the kind which are usually dotted around in plentiful supply in most good old British seaside towns.
The ornaments were made from lengths of silver coloured metal rod (possibly aluminium but I suspect more likely steel) which were bent in different ways and soldered together. In certain key positions ball bearing like lumps had been soldered in order to move the rods centre of gravity to a different place. This was so that the carefully bent shape could then be balanced on another piece of metal in a manner which initially seemed to defy gravity.