$1,500
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Description
11" (28 cm.) Standing behind a lectern on a wooden platform with original gilt stenciled red painted finish is a sculpted black man with defined hair, mouth carved open as though speaking, glass eyes, wooden block torso, hinged wooden legs, metal hinged arms, remnants of original costume; when wound, he leans forward and back, waving his arm, as though preaching. Condition: very good, original finish, mechanism functions. Costume frail. Comments: the toy was issued by Automatic Toy Works of New York, circa 1885, in two variations, this example named "Our New Clergyman, Brudder Gardner" in their catalog with the humorous note "he preaches as long as any preacher ought to, and stops when he gets through". A series of comic vaudeville speeches was published in the early 1880s featuring Brudder Gardner, inspiring this rare toy.