WHAT FROLICKS ARE HERE

Saturday, May 2, 2015Lots 1-350

May 2, 2015 in Morristown, NJ


"What Frolicks Are Here - Fine Antique Dolls from Estates and Private Collections." Commemorative catalog with special features not available to online viewers. 8.5" x 11". Softbound. 132 full-color pages.

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Outstanding French Mechanical Automaton "La Victoire Finale" by Henri Phalibois

Outstanding French Mechanical Automaton "La Victoire Finale" by Henri Phalibois

Lot #25

42" (107 cm.) h. overall. 32"x 21" base. 28"h. lady. A wooden base with original tapestry carpet cover displays an elegant fashionable lady standing alongside a wooden-framed display board. The lady has paper mache head, glass eyes with leather eyelids, closed mouth with row of tiny painted teeth, pierced ears, brunette mohair upswept hair, carton body with shapely torso and slender limbs, and is wearing her original black satin dress with rhinestone collar, and chapeau. Held in her extended hand is a gold coin. The frame, which is decorated with gilded mounts, has a curved front sign which solicits the donation of a gold coin to support French troops during WWI (every coin is another step toward victory), and a glass-fronted sign at the back exclaiming (translated) "No Defeat!" and enhanced by hidden blinking lights which give animation to the scene. The automaton is activated by an electric motor with pulley to the large wooden drive wheel. When switched on, a number of movements occur. The lady has 8 animations: head turning, nodding, eyelids blinking, left forearm side-to-side, right arm both lifting and then gesturing upward, upper torso bending at waist and leaning forward, chest breathing action, and entire figure rotation 90% to look at sign, and then returning. Meanwhile, the front sign is synchronized to the woman's movements, so as she turns, the sign flips to reveal the back side, and she leaps backward as though stunned. Condition: generally excellent, mechanism functions well. Marks: Henri Phalibois (calling card fragment attached to underside of dress). Comments: Phalibois, Paris, circa 1915. Value Points: exceptional number of realistic and complicated movements enhance the poignant message of the early 20th-century automaton.

 
Outstanding French Musical Automaton Conjuror by Leopold Lambert

Outstanding French Musical Automaton Conjuror by Leopold Lambert

Lot #43

29" (74 cm.) h. overall. 22" magician. An ebony-complexioned paper mache man is standing upon a velvet covered wooden platform, behind a wooden table; the man has brown glass eyes, leather eye lids, highly defined cheek and temple bones, white mohair side burns, moustache and goatee, hinged jaw, two rows of teeth, carton torso and legs, paper mache hands with expressively posed fingers, and is wearing original silk costume with velvet vest, tucked formal shirt, black tie, black pressed flannel hat and various fob and cuff links. The table is covered in green wool flannel with metallic trim and with embroidered conjuror symbols. His hands are resting upon two silver cones which hide a compartment with revolving action that allows different "surprises" to appear, When wound, the Magician turns his head left and right, and then nods downward as though drawing attention of passers-by to the table, his jaw opens and closes rapidly as though he is calling to passers-by and his eye lids blink up and down. One of two musical tunes play, and then the cones are slowly lifted, one by one or together, revealing one of five possible treasures: flowers, coins, gilded butterfly, a little bisque doll, dice...or nothing. Condition: generally excellent, music and mechanism function well. Marks: L.B. (key). Comments: the automaton, named "Escamoteur" (conjuror) appeared in an early Lambert catalog, French, circa 1880. Value Points: superb state of preservation of the rare automaton with six movements plus six possible surprises.