Made of wood. Found in a thrift store. Has multiple spindle things. No moving parts. What is it???
A: It’s “perpetual motion” magnetic toy. You are missing an integral part. The donut should have a magnet in it. There is a rod that should go in the center of that donut that is also magnetized. It connects with a string to the little metal hook on the other side. Because of electromagnetic induction, once you put batteries in the bottom of the unit and spin the rod, it won’t stop spinning until the batteries run out of juice.
After that you put a sugar cone on the feuerzange and pour something like Stroh 80, a drink with 80% alcohol over it and light it up. Keep pouring the alcohol over the cone while it melts down in the whine. You now have a warm, sweet and strong drink for a nice winter evening. You should watch the movie Feuerzangenbowle while you do all this.
"may be more zebra than horse"
What do you suppose you mean by that?
I think the expression is "If you hear hooves/find hoofprints, it's probably a horse and not a zebra" – similar to Occam's razor: The most probable explanation for something is usually the correct one.
In this case, the less probable explanation appears to be correct, therefore it's "rather a zebra than a horse".
sorry – "the simple explanation", not the most probable one.