$8,000
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sold
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Description
24" (61 cm.) Bisque socket head, brown glass paperweight inset eyes, dark eyeliner, dark painted lashes, brushstroked brows, rose-blushed eyeshadow, accented nostrils, open mouth, outlined shaded lips, six porcelain teeth, pierced ears, reddish/brown mohair wig over cork pate, French composition and wooden fully-jointed body, open front torso with metal door cover having speaker holes. Condition: generally excellent. Marks: Depose Tete Jumeau 11 (head) Bebe Jumeau Bte SGDG Depose (body) Lioret (mechanism). Comments: Bebe Phonographe presented by Jumeau in 1892 with internal phonograph mechanism by Henri Lioret. When wound at the back torso, the custom discs were designed to sing or recite a nursery rhyme. Value Points: all-original "Bebe Phonographe" with original blue flowered chemise/dress with opening front flap. Bebe Jumeau gilt label at waist, Jumeau blue socks, leather shoes signed "Paris Depose 11" with bee symbol, Jumeau earrings and "Polichinelle" recording. The doll is presented in her very important original box whose inside lid lists all the recordings "existant actuallement" including the only known commercial reference to the long-lost mysterious Russian language discs which Huguette Clark had been seeking for years. It is known that on the occasion of French President Faure's visit to Petersburg in 1897 he brought gifts for the young daughters of Tsar Nicholas II including Bebe Phonographe and, of special note, three discs of Russian language songs. These have never been found and no other Russian discs are known to exist at this time.