What is this?

[Shaps]

Found this on Ebay without a description. The ring has four magnets at 12/3/6/9 o’clock. Thinking it might be a paper clip holder?

 

[MattKing]

Nikon branding is on a lot of things - including eyewear.
So it could be related to something that has nothing to do with photography.

 

[mpirie]

Maybe an "Executive Toy" with a spinning centre kept there by the magnets?

Mike

 

[Kino]

Maybe an "Executive Toy" with a spinning centre kept there by the magnets?

Mike

That was my thought; a "floating" logo or similar...

 

[Molli]

My friend used to run a second hand camera store and I'm fairly certain I saw something like this as part of one of his displays, although it was a Minolta promotion if I'm remembering correctly. I think it was used to display/hold lenses or something, not being in itself the thing on display.

Sorry, that was a derailed thought there!
I think it was a type of stand used to display a lense.

 

[Shaps]

That was my thought; a "floating" logo or similar...

That is what I was thinking when I saw it. I’ll see if I can find something that works with it.

 

[Shaps]

My friend used to run a second hand camera store and I'm fairly certain I saw something like this as part of one of his displays, although it was a Minolta promotion if I'm remembering correctly. I think it was used to display/hold lenses or something, not being in itself the thing on display.

Sorry, that was a derailed thought there!
I think it was a type of stand used to display a lense.

Much too light to hold a lens, maybe a filter?

 

[koraks]

Maybe an "Executive Toy" with a spinning centre kept there by the magnets?

Yeah, I think probably something like that.

a "floating" logo or similar...

Sounds plausible to me.

 

[Shaps]

I’ve been trying different items to see if they will float inside the ring, but no luck so far. Maybe a paper clip a few millimeters shorter than the interior circle might work.

 

[koraks]

Evidently nothing will float in there just like that. At least not a static item; something with active electromagnets would do the trick and could function as a very basic electromotor. Perhaps that was the gimmick to begin with.

 

[250swb]

A frictionless magnetic bearing, you need a short length of steel tube just a bit smaller than the hole and it should spin freely inside the bearing.

 

[Shaps]

A frictionless magnetic bearing, you need a short length of steel tube just a bit smaller than the hole and it should spin freely inside the bearing.

Spin like clock hands? Can you send a link illustrating what you are talking about? Thanks

 

[Don_ih]

A screwdriver magnetizer/demagnetizer? A bad one?

If you find out, let this guy on Reddit know - he has one, too, and doesn't know what it is.

 

[Donald Qualls]

I thought display stand at first, but almost all lens bodies and filter rings are non-magetic material -- aluminum or, if very old, brass. Round shutters (for folders and large format) had a steel body, and Nikon has sold those over time.

Nothing will float or rotate freely inside there, the magnetic field can't hold a static item by repulsion (even if all the inside poles are the same). It had to be intended to hold *something* inside that would be a slide fit into the ring, with the magnets to keep it in place but allow easy removal.

 

[Don_ih]

It had to be intended to hold *something* inside that would be a slide fit into the ring

Easy. The Eye of Sauron.