An ebony-complexioned black man with highly characterized handsome features has composition head, glass eyes, leather eyelids, hinged jaw, double row of teeth, fleeced hair, carton torso and legs, black composition hands, and is posed on maroon velvet base behind a wooden magic table having two silver cones and a green felt cover with embroidery. The man wears a black formal jacket with long tails and coral silk lapels, yellow silk trousers, vest and evening shirt and bow tie. Movements: he turns from side to side, while eyelids blink and his hinged jaw opens and closes as though talking; he appears to lift the cones alternatively as though the spectator has chosen. Four different surprises are hidden under each cone, and they appear sequentially as though a "surprise". The automaton appeared in the Lambert catalog as Negre Escamoteur, No 33. The details of embroidery on table cover includes dice and other magic symbols. According to the catalog, the magician was also available with white complexion, and an example of that variation appeared in Bailly's Automata, The Golden Years. France, circa 1885. 30" (76 cm). Five movements. Two tunes.