we love this item so much because its really hard to get a great quality one.... i have seen a lot that are cheap plastic or tin.... and that is why i love this unit because it just screams quality being all cast iron on a steel mounting pole and is ready to screw or bolt to any flat surface.
detail casting too
A weather vane, wind vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word vane comes from the Old English word fana, meaning 'flag'.
Although partly functional, weather vanes are generally decorative, often featuring the traditional cockerel design with letters indicating the points of the compass. Other common motifs include ships, arrows and horses. Not all weather vanes have pointers. When the wind is sufficiently strong, the head of the arrow or cockerel (or equivalent depending on the chosen design) will indicate the direction from which the wind is blowing.
The weather vane was independently invented in ancient China and Greece around the same time during the 2nd century BCE. The earliest written reference to a weather vane appears in the Huainanzi, and a weather vane was fitted on top of the Tower of the Winds in Athens.[1]
sourced from wikepedia