My husband gave me this wonderful Automaton for Christmas! He is very romantic! I just love it!!
The period 1860 to 1910 is known as “The Golden Age of Automata”. During this period many small family based companies of Automata makers thrived in Paris. From their workshops they exported thousands of clockwork automata and mechanical singing birds around the world. It is these French automata that are collected today, although now rare and expensive they attract collectors worldwide. The main French makers were Vichy, Roullet & Decamps, Lambert, Phalibois, Renou and Bontems.
The word Automaton is the latinization of the Greek αὐτόματον,… automaton, (neuter) “acting of one’s own will”. It is more often used to describe non-electronic moving machines, especially those that have been made to resemble human or animal actions, such as the jacks on old public striking clocks, or the cuckoo and any other animated figures on a cuckoo clock.
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curiocache
Wonderful!!! Thanks for sharing that!