Numbers 21:8 - real fiery serpent or manufactured?

Question

Numbers 21:8

And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he seeth it, shall live.'

ח וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, עֲשֵׂה לְךָ שָׂרָף, וְשִׂים אֹתוֹ, עַל-נֵס; וְהָיָה, כָּל-הַנָּשׁוּךְ, וְרָאָה אֹתוֹ, וָחָי.

Did Moses take a snake (once alive now dead) and put it on a pole or did he create something that looked like a snake and place it on a pole? What is this fiery serpent?

Answer 1

Verse 9 clarifies that it was a BRONZE serpent that was made, in the NIV. In many other translations ti is also worded as bronze, but in some, as brass.