automata

Rare Orchestrions Up For Auction

Filed under: Auctions

The amazing piece of furniture shown above is a rare orchestrion set to go up for auction on October 7 at Bonhams New York. An orchestrion is a machine that plays music and is design to sound like an orchestra or band. Some of the orchestrions are operated using perforated paper rolls like a player piano.

This orchestrion is from the Mark Yaffe Collection, a total of $4 million of property being sold at the sale. Orchestrions reached the height of their popularity in the early1920s. Also known as nickelodeons because they cost a nickel to play, these machines were once features in bars and restaurants. The piece shown above is a circa 1925 Hupfeld Helios III/39. It has a total of 296 pipes to mimic a variety of instruments including cellos, trombones, drums and mandolin. There is a six-roll changer behind the stained glass. The front has an automaton of a lakeside scene which changes from dawn to dusk using light effects to the sky, lights within the dwellings, trains and windmill, hot air balloon and a Zeppelin flying by complete the illusion. It's a easy to imagine this piece as the height of technological innovation in the Jazz Age, providing plenty of entertainment for cocktail-swilling Deco dolls and dandies. This incredible piece is estimated to sell for $800,000 to $1.2 million. Other pieces in the collection are also estimated to sell deep in the six figures including a circa 1926 Weber Maestro Orchestrion estimated at $500,000-750,000 and a circa 1915 Philipps Paganini Style 3 Orchestrion offered with 300 re-cut rolls estimated at $400,000-600,000.

Tags: antiques, automata, bonhams new york, musical instruments, nickolodeon, orchestrion, orchestrions

The World's Most Expensive Doll

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Gadgets

The interesting object shown here is the world's most expensive doll. Known as L'Oiseleur (The Bird Trainer) it is a four foot tall figure of a young man holding a flute and dressed in Renaissance clothing. The doll, which has an asking price of $6,250,000 was created in a Swiss workshop. Once wound with a golden key, the doll plays the flute, blowing "Marche des Rois" by Georges Bizet. His fingers play the instrument and his eyes move back and forth. Two birds, one on his shouler and one on his hand, sing along, opening and closing their beaks, turning their heads and flapping their wings. Most amazingly the entire show is powered by tiny cogs and gears (no batteries or other power source). The doll has 2,340 parts and took 15,000 hours to create.

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Tags: automata, device, doll, expensive doll, ExpensiveDoll, mechanical, oddities