My friend from France sent me this pics of a very cool lamp/sculpture. A friend of his found it in Manhattan's flea market...

It stands about 50 cm high, is made of some kind of pot metal, so very heavy. The top comes off for access to the socket.
The dealer he bought it from suspects it was made in the 60's, although there are no markings of provenance anywhere.
It is wired for 110/US, but all he had to do was change the plug and the bulb and, Voila it's lit up.

-joel