Kris-

Please send me a jpeg. What you have is a ritual object related to
Santeria practice. It represents Osun, one of the "Four Warriors":
Eleggua, Oggun, Ochosi and Osun. It is normally kept near the front door
above the level of one's head to warn against evil. If the bells ring in
the absence of any visible disturbance, it means bad trouble is coming
and you need to sacrifice a couple of pidgeons. The cup or "foundation"
normally is closed and contains herbs.

Hm- there's an old custom in folk Catholicism of punishing or even
discarding the "saints" that don't do their job for you. Maybe someone
got annoyed with Osun and gave him a swim!

You can read about it in a number of sources. A good one is:

Migene Gonzales-Wippler, Santeria-African Magic in Latin America,
Julian Press, Inc. Crown Publishers, New York 1973

Marty Pickands, New York State Museum

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A diver located an artifact out of the St. Clair River near Pt. Huron
,Mi
The item consist of a lead rooster mounted on a lead filled stemmed
base
Just below the rooster is an inverted type cup with four bells
suspended
on chain's
That in motion clang against the cup.the artifact is approx  20 cm
tall
I can forward a virus free jpeg image to interested parties for your
input
 
 
One theory is it belonged to a ship's captain as a way to determine
the
amount of motion(roll)
The ship is sailing in.

Thanks In Advance

Kris Oswald