Melted metal object - original use?

[Lisa in California]

Contents of a cutlery drawer?

Perhaps!  The person who was most likely to save it/find and save it was born in Ireland, supposedly orphaned at some point and finally settled in California.  Possibly he had some family cutlery that meant something to him, no matter the appearance.  Or, perhaps it was just found in debris and the person thought it unique.  I also am not sure it was from the earthquake and fire; there could be some unrelated reason why it was kept.

Thank you for the suggestion, Mike. 

[Lisa in California]

Thank you for helping me, maddys52!  The item is much easier to view now.  Thank you for posting the other images as well.

The first photo is what I’m describing as the top of the object. The second photo is the object turned upside down, showing the flat (bottom) side. The third photo is a side view, which also shows the slight twist, where it doesn’t lay flat.

[youngtug]

Do you know what metal the object is, I am not sure that a house fire would reach an high enough temperature to melt steel or iron.

[ThrelfallYorky]

I must admit I'd thought cutlery, too. My father as a child had his own little decorated silver set of knife ( very blunt) fork and spoon, which even came to England with him, and was given on to me. I'm sure his mum would have grabbed something like that, if they'd ever been in an earthquake!
TY

[Lisa in California]

Do you know what metal the object is, I am not sure that a house fire would reach an high enough temperature to melt steel or iron.

Hmm.  Hadn’t thought of that.

It is not magnetic.  It is fairly heavy, given the size of the object.  There is one tiny piece that possibly could be removed, but of course I won’t try that.  The metal is very hard.  It is not as colourful as the photo shows…I don’t know how the camera picked up the colour variation.  There are tiny specks of colour on it, too orange to be brass.  Moving it around with overhead lights on makes very small parts of the object sparkle.

Thank you for your interest, youngtug.

[Lisa in California]

I must admit I'd thought cutlery, too. My father as a child had his own little decorated silver set of knife ( very blunt) fork and spoon, which even came to England with him, and was given on to me. I'm sure his mum would have grabbed something like that, if they'd ever been in an earthquake!
TY

We actually had small folks for our boys, but they were inexpensive items (and still have them).    You are fortunate to have the cutlery set. I’m sure it is treasured.

Thank you for your thoughts, ThrelfallYorky.

[Lisa in California]

I wonder if it could have any copper in it?

[youngtug]

Copper is pink when newly abraded, it will grow verdigris,ie; go green when exposed to air and moisture.

[Lisa in California]

Thank you, youngtug.  I have seen green copper things (copper bottom saucepans can be so insightful).  I didn’t know that air and moisture caused the reaction.

There definitely isn’t any green on the item.

Thank you for the explanation, youngtug. I thoroughly enjoy learning new things; I’ve always been inquisitive.  (When I was in college, I took required courses and deviated from my major to also take unrelated classes, eventually earning a degree and two certificates.  Apparently, I had too much time on my hands.) 

Update: insightful should be delightful.  Autocorrect can be irritating at times.