Thumbs up Lew. It's a model of the first transistor (well maybe inventions are funny like that) built by a couple guys at Bell labs in the 40's. Majuvla, indeed it is a stand in the original the C shaped part was clear plastic, and the triangle piece had two bits of gold foil on in the a spring pushed down onto a piece of galium that sat on top of a piece of brass. wired from the two bits of gold foil, on either side of the triangle and a third coming from the bass piece on the base formed the emitter, collector and the base, or whatever they called those things in the 1940's