22nd Feb, 2024 12:00

The Important Private Antique Doll Collection of Austin Smith and Margaret Harkin - Part 1

 
  Lot 274
 

274

A rare Gustave Vichy waltzing couple automaton circa 1870

Sold for £1,600
Estimated at £1,500 - £2,000


 
A rare Gustave Vichy waltzing couple automaton circa 1870, with French fashionable doll heads, both with blue striated glass eyes, closed mouths, pierced ears and original 18th century style white mohair wigs, wired arms with cast-metal well-modelled hands, original elaborate blue and cream silk 18th century style costumes, her with white fur and clear glass bead trim, him with silver thread trim, mounted on a green painted tinplate skirt housing clockwork musical rotating and wheeled mechanism — 13in. (33cm.) high (both heads damaged, hers badly, clothes damaged and needs restoration, mechanism works, but not key); under glass dome with stand