Curliest Q

What a whimsical shape this is, so carefully twisted into a playful curly Q at one time.  I wonder how many different colors of paint this piece of metal has worn?  I wonder how beautiful it was when it was first made and how fun it would be to have accents of curly Q's in the furniture at home.  The shadow of this fixture reminds me of something I saw in either the Wizard of Oz or Willie Wonka...like a cane or a crazy sucker.  I recently was inspired to create my own photograph poster of the alphabet out of clever treasures like this--I think I would have to use this as the letter C, even though I like calling it the curliest Q.  :D