Beautiful miniature musical automata to be sold at Sotheby's in June

Here is a beautifully produced video showing three miniature musical automata to be sold at Sotheby's upcoming sale. The three pieces represent a sampling of a larger collection that was amassed over five decades. They report that the collection has not seen since the late 1970s. Among those shown, two of the automata are by the famous automaton-maker, Jaquet-Droz who is known for creating the three large, complex automata known as The Writer, The Draftsman, and The Musician.

Here is where you can get more information about Sotheby's sale of musical automata on June 11th in New York.

---

Sotheby's to auction exquisite pieces from the Frank & Lore Metzger collection

We've gotten word of an upcoming sale at Sotheby's in New York City which will features some of the exquisite pieces from the Frank & Lore Metzger collection. The sale includes several different styles of mechanical singing bird, the most astounding being a rare example by Courvoisier & Co. (Lot #63) that features caged, double singing birds that flit towards and away from each other, the cage sits on a base that contains a clock and musical movement.

From the video description:

A very rare Empire Ormolu and Mahogany musical automaton bird cage clock, with twin flying birds and a fountain. The clock is signed by Courvoisier and Comp., famous Swiss clock makers, and sets off the music and bird mechanisms hourly or at will.

This piece is estimated to bring between $150,000 to $250,000 USD.

There are many other amazing pieces in the sale including a George Pyke organ clock (Lot #62), dating to around 1765. The musical clock features an animated scene.

The catalog is online in graphical PDF form. Check out Lots 43 thru 63 for the musical and automata items. Lot 43 starts on page 40. And twelve videos of pieces from the collection can be seen on YouTube.

The preview begins this Saturday, December 6th, 2014. The sale is on Wednesday, December 10th, 2014. Here is where you can get more information on Sotheby's Important Watches sale. For further information contact Daryn Schnipper, Chairman, International Watch Division, at Sothebys, NY (212)606-7000.

---