A rare Edison phonograph doll

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VA… Read more

Details

A rare Edison phonograph doll
with hand-cranked pulley-driven movement and spring-loaded mandrel, the large-diameter reproducer with steel stlyus and small conical horn directing the sound through perforations in the metal torso, with bisque Simon & Halbig head, lashed brown sleeping eyes, brown mohair wig, wood and jointed papier-mache limbs with fixed wrists --22in. (56cm.) high, the head impressed Dep 9, (lacking handle and cylinder)

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis This lot is subject to Collection and Storage charges

Lot Essay

The dolls were manufactured byThe Edison Phonograph Toy Manufacturing Company, formed late in 1887. The first sample dolls appeared in August 1889 but serious production started only in January 1890; heads were supplied by the German doll factories. The dolls were not a success and as a result were withdrawn from sale at the end of April, the mechanisms removed and the bodies sold off. Hence the rarity of complete examples.

The mandrel and feed-screw are spring-loaded so that they return to the start position when the feed-nut and reproducer-weight are lifted by pressure on a lever projecting from the back of the doll. A large pulley fixed on the mandrel arbor carries a belt-drive to a countershaft on which is mounted the flywheel. This small and simple mechanism includes all the essential features of the later and more familiar Edison phonograph.

Another Edison doll was sold at Christie's in Mechanical Music, 22 December 1976, lot 108.

More from MECHANICAL MUSIC, AUTOMATA, DOLLS AND DOLLS' HOUSES

View All