Passed
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Description
36" (91 cm.) h. x 16"w. x 20"d. Standing upon a wooden rectangular platform is a trim but muscular weight-lifter,having head and hands of painted paper-mache with highly characterized face,sandy hair,blue glass eyes and articulated eyelids. He is re-costumed appropriately in vintage silk and velvet ensemble designed to add drama to the performance,and he stands before a red velvet-covered wooden bench upon which his weight is resting. Movement and Music. Hercules bows at the waist until his upper torso is nearly parallel with the floor before he reaches for his weight,grabbing it with his right hand and proceeding to lift it as he raises himself back in an upright position. Then his arm continues to lift the weight even higher. He handles the performance with grace,smiling all the time,and pauses,looking side-to-side with eyelids blinking. He resumes his act,lowering and returning the weight to the bench. He releases the weight and comes up empty-hands,proud of his accomplishment. The animation is excellent,controlled by a clockwork motor with five brass cams in the base. There is an appropriate non-original musical movement that plays four tunes. Attributed to Roullet & Decamps,circa 1900,an extremely rare model. Although the overall designs is closer to Henry Phalibois,the cams are of brass in the Decamps manner. An identical example was featured in the "Festival Mondial l'Automate" in Brussels,and a later electrified version is on exhibition in the Musee d l'Automate in Souillac,France. The Hercules theme was also presented by Vichy,model 537 in his catalog,named "Hercule faisant les halteres" although no examples are known to exist. Further,the 1900 wholesale catalog of Reiner,Pelzer & Co of Cologne offered a coin-operated version in a floor-standing arcade cabinet.