Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Skinner Auctioneers
Their Automatons
Yesterday, I learned another good lesson that I added to my notebook for searching out toys. I decided to check out a great Eastern USA auctioneer that I had written about several times. THeir name is Skinner Auctioneers. I had completely forgotten about them, so I had a gut feeling to check out their listings for automatons. I wrote my newest "toy" discovery the automaton yesterday. If this is your first visit to my blog, an automaton is a self regulating machine that goes though a series of its own movements. A toy automaton usually would be of an animal or person. If the automaton was a person, it might for example, be a musician that would play an instrument (a violin), and move its head.
Returning to Skinners Auctioneers, I went to visit their website, and and did I find automatons! Their automatons are more like collectors items, and were more like topics of conversation that would have existed in people's homes at the times when automatons were popular. When you'll see the automatons below, and then go to my blog from yesterday, you'll easily see the differences.
What's great to see at the Skinners Auctioneers website is the in-depth and thorough descriptions of their listed items. When I was looking through the other listings on Liveauctioneers, many other listings did not have much information. So my good fortune was to have returned to Skinners Auctioneers to discover the wealth of information to be read about automatons!
I'm just briefly going to describe the actual movements of most of the automatons presented for today. However, if you like to read and like very interesting descriptions and descriptions, please redirect yourself to the Skinners Auctioneers website.
The birds move their heads and tails and tweet.
The clowns turn side to side on their axis while strumming their unusual instruments, blinking, looking up and around, and kicking their feet in the air. Mid-way through the cycle, the sullen clown begins to lose interest in the performance and falls out of step with his smiling companion, swiveling slightly later, kicking only after a pause, strumming out of time and staring at the ground or at the other clown, as though he is unsure of which notes to play. As if to wake him up, the smiling clown kicks the other from behind in a less than friendly fashion and the performance continues as before. *
*http://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2383/lots/616
It's truly amazing how such a device could have so many movements,
considering it was made more than 110 years ago!
- Auction:
- Science, Technology & Clocks - 2383
- Location:
- Bolton
- Date / Time :
- October 28, 2007 10:00AM
Description:
Rare Coin-Operated Vichy Automaton Gymnast with Two Chairs, with papier-mache head, brown glass eyes, smiling mouth with painted teeth, arched brows and theatrical make-up, standing between two white-painted chairs on paneled oak base with coin-slot, massive going-barrel motor driving five cams and four-air cartel cylinder movement, in the original spangled gold satin theatrical costume decorated with silver sequins and glass beads, ht. 35 1/2 in., (original paintwork throughout, costume extremely fragile).
Note: The sequence begins with the acrobat standing, poised, between the two chairs. At the drop of the coin, he raises the chair in his right hand waist-high, flexing his wrist three times so that hand and chair outstretched. He then lowers the chair to the ground and, with his hand still grasping the top rail for support raises his body into a handstand position, tilting the chair so that only its back two legs are resting on the stage. When his body is at ninety-degrees from the base, he raises the chair into the air, once again flexing from the right wrist so that the chair is horizontal and his entire weight rests in his left hand while simultaneously raising his head as if to survey the crowd, until body and chair are held in perfect alignment, before gracefully lowering himself back to a standing position. As a finale, he stretches his hand to release the chair, raising his free arm in the air, and bowing his head for applause.
Vichy's Gymnast was one the firm's largest and most elaborate automata, a deposed (patented) model offered with the luxury of a four-air cartel cylinder movement. It is one of the only 19th century automata capable of catching and lifting an independent object as part of its routine (another example is the Weight Lifter by Phalibois), accomplished by a unique serpent-like wrist motion in tandem with an almost imperceptible rotation of the arm that manipulates the chair in mid-air.
Mary Hillier attributes Vichy's inspiration for this piece to a an act performed at the Moulin Rouge and the Nouveau Cirque in Paris by the female clown Chau-u-Kao in the 1890s, which the author describes depicted in an early photograph showing her dressed in the same spangled costume, tights, pale make-up and dark wig as the automaton, performing the acrobatic feat of raising her body one hand. By 1900, when her fame was eclipsed, the same automaton with more masculine attributes appeared in a group at the Paris Exhibition, where it won first prize.
The extremely powerful mechanism was purpose-built for coin-operated use, and a coin-operated version of this automaton advertised in the Holzweissig catalogue of 1848. Several English makers of the period also purchased French automata for coin-operated conversion and subsequent display at popular Victorian seaside resorts, including Blackpool and Brighton. A very similar example, but with standard-activation, forms part of the Guinness Collection at the Morris Museum in Morristown, New Jersey. This particular example is one of the few Vichy Gymnasts still in original costume, as well as the only known with coin-operated mechanism.
Literature: Hillier, Automata and Mechanical Toys, pp. 100, 117; Bailly,Automata, the Golden Age, p. 108, 268.
* Above Source: http://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2383/lots/617
I rarely include final winning bids or the estimated range of prices that auction houses include for bidders. However, I will say that the above particular item's winning bid was in the six-figure range!
I've added the exact item description so that you can see the depth that Skinner's Auctioneers provides for these automatons! This is even better than having to refer to encyclopedias!
Rare Automaton of a Black Footman with Gong by Adolf Müller, with character head, upturned nose, wide grin, articulated glass eyes and leather eyelids, standing at jaunty angle and holding a large brass gong suspended from a string in his left hand, a kid-covered hammer in his right, articulated at the elbow and wrist, on tapering oak base containing long-duration going-barrel movement with five cams causing the figure to roll his eyes as he beats the gong eight times, then pauses, looking up and down and from side to side before resuming, in the original well-preserved velvet-lined polychrome pattered silk tailcoat over striped waistcoat with brass buttons, wing collar, bow tie, knee-length blue satin breeches, red silk stockings, black buckled leather shoes, and red velvet cap, ht. 34 in., with key stamped A. Steuart.
Note: Müller's work is often associated with Vichy's. They were contemporaries working in different countries, trying to capture opposing sides of the automata market. A number of Müller's automata are illustrated in Bailly's reprint of the 1898 Holzweissig catalogue, several posed on his characteristic trapezoidal bases.*
*Source http://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2419/lots/923
The photo of the back of this automaton gives you an idea of the complexity of the toy.
I don't know how the mechanism works, but I assume that the different rod lengths allow for different angles and lengths of movements.
You must absolutely and positively click on the address below.
At the page site, you will read a well-written narrative and description of this very rare automaton.
I've mentioned several times why it is well worthwhile to bid on items from reputable and highly renowned auction house, such as Skinner. Their researchers and heads of their different departments ensure the authenticity of all items,and provide the potential bidders will well-referenced information on every item!
Two things stand out for this automaton. First it's American-made. Second, the character is based on general and later president Ulysses S. Grant. I hope you'll check out the Skinner Auctioneers site for the many more automatons that they have sold, as well as the exhaustive written material on the subject.
Thanks for dropping by,
and as always,
have a great part of the day,
wherever you may be.
Stacey
