A rare Phalibois monkey magician

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Details

A rare Phalibois monkey magician
with a wand in his left hand and a brass cover in his right, standing beside a table with glass dome containing three dice, the going-barrel movement with wood cams causing him to lower the brass cover over the dice, then raise it half way, turn and lower his head to look at the dice, rolling his eyes and moving his lips while waving his right hand horizontally over the dome before lifting the cover to reveal that the numbers on the dice have changed, in original black velvet robes edged in faded satin and decorated with cut-paper, flared sleeves and pointed magician's hat, under floral bower and trellace, on ebonised base containing the two-air pullstring musical movement, under glass dome - 27in. (69cm.) high, (face and hands restored, sleeves replaced), the motor stamped Cadot 8438 T

Literature

Christian Bailly (1987), Automata, The Golden Age, 1848-1914, p. 162.
Antonia Fraser (1972), A History of Toys, p. 109, for a similar magician in identical costume.

The magician is illustrated as No. 592 in Silber and Fleming's 1885 catalogue and described:

'Mechanical Piece, under a glass shade, representing a Monkey Conjuror. Richly dressed figure standing behind a table, on which is a small glass shade with three dice. The figure places a small brass cover over the shade and then raises it, the numbers on the dice changing meanwhile. Two airs of music. height 28 inches, length 19 inches.'

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

Lot Essay

The movement to change the dice is extremely rare amongst magician automata: a cam wheel with a single projection slowly lowers the centre of the table throughout the sequence (when the brass cover is over the dice) and then rapidly releases it once during each rotation. When released, the spring-loaded part of the tabe throws the dice, changing their sequence.

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