Saturday, May 28, 2011

Wooden Nuremburg

This wooden model of The Old Town in Nuremberg, Germany, took four years to complete (by four master wood carvers) and was completed in 1939.  It is currently housed in the Nuremberg City Museum. 


Click photo for high resolution version


Wednesday, May 25, 2011

17th century Italian pharmacy (and painful tooth pull!)

This diorama of a 17th century pharmacy is thought to be from 1900-1920.  It was spotted on the auction site 1STDIBS.  The elegant surroundings are not easing the patient's pain. 



Click photo to enlarge



Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Schoenhut Teddy Roosevelt in Africa playset

Schoenhut is an old toy company founded by German immigrant Albert Schoenhut, who set up shop in Philadelphia, PA to sell wooden toy pianos.  The company is still around today, and is still producing toy pianos.  It is also known for making the Schoenhut Circus which was a huge hit when it was introduced in 1903, and is today prized by collectors.  (Posting coming soon).  By scouting around the web I found a great site run by a collector who is an expert on these toys (see the All About Toys Schoenhut history page).

Teddy Roosevelt's post-Presidency trip to Africa in 1909 was big news at the time.  So much so that Schoenhut came out with a toy playset based on the adventure.  It was produced from 1909 - 1912.   Roosevelt's trip was sponsored by Andrew Carnegie and travelling with him were legendary hunters,  trackers  and naturalists of the time.  The purpose of the trip was to bring back specimens for the Smithsonian Institute and for the American Museum of Natural History.



The above playset sold at auction in November 2008 for $34,500. Source: Bertoia Auctions.  Click the photo to enlarge and see details. 




Red box version with booklet




Photos below courtesy of Jim Sneed from Old Wooden Toys















Accessories




Beautiful imasge - click to enlarge

Monday, May 23, 2011

Antique Automata


      
     An automaton (plural: automata or automatons) is a self-operating machine.  These hold fascination for me - especially some of the older ones shown in this posting.  They've been around for a long time (since Greek times) but the golden age is considered by many to be 1860-1910.   During this period many small family based producers thrived in Paris.  The main French makers were Vichy, Roullet & Decamps, Lambert, Phalibois, Renou and Bontems.


      In addition to being fine examples of mechanical competence, these early machines were used in magic acts and performances to demonstrate mystical abilities (before audiences were sure about how these machines worked).  Good examples are those used by French magician Robert Houdin.  There is also a famous example of a hoax  -  The Turk (a chess-playing automaton), which dates back to the late 1700s (photo below toward end of posting).  This supposed mechanical chess player beat scores of opponents, but was ultimately revealed to have been a hoax (there was a small person was hidden inside the contraption).  Nevertheless, the machine is still quite beautiful.


     I've also included in this posting a piece I made recently (last series of photos).


close up of clown from Automatomania


A few good sites to check out:


Automatomania -   Excellent collection with good photos.
http://www.automatomania.co.uk/


Dugnorth Automata blog  - A great source for all things automata http://blog.dugnorth.com/


Deskarati -   (good succinct history of automata)
http://deskarati.com/2011/05/08/automata/


Atlas Obscura's Amazing Automata section - A great site for anything bizarre and obscure (its also on this blog's list of links on the right side bar).  http://atlasobscura.com/category/inspired-inventions/amazing-automata  


Fantasma Magic Shop in New York City - This is one of the few great magic shops left.  It's located right near Penn Station and well worth a visit (books, tricks, costumes, antiques, live birds!)   They carry some great pieces of antique automate too.  And the best part may be the mechanized Houdini that comes down from the ceiling and gets out of a straight jacket (I understand the shop's owner is a big Houdini fan and expert). 
http://www.fantasmamagic.com/shopping/


click images to enlarge




Henry Phalibois Automaton of a Chinese Magician and Vanishing Assistant, c. 1920
From the site of Skinner Inc.













Top view



A flea circus in a suitcase









Vichy Acrobat




The Undertaker




Baking bread



A writing woman - this was a popular type of automata - one where the machine writes a name or a message.




A reconstruction of the hoax automata, The Turk.  The original was built in 1770s and appeared to be a "thinking" chess playing machine, but there was a small person hidden inside the box.



Here's a piece I made - it's my first shot at a very simple, hand cranked automata:











In process:








Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Matchbox dioramas by Melanie Coles

These dioramas are from Vancouver, BC based artist Melanie Coles.  I don't think they are actually made from matchboxes, but they have that nostalgic look.  See more on her site: Melanie Coles.



click images to enlarge










Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Some great pieces from Thomas Doyle

Last year I featured some of Doyle's work as part of a posting (The Elephant Magazine posting).   I have since been meaning to post more of his very thoughtful work.  Here are a few pieces from his website.



Little optimum (Reclimations Series):








Sending and receiving (Reclimations Series):





Firing for effect (Distillation Series):









Residue (Distillation Series):










Thursday, May 5, 2011

World's largest airport model unveiled in Germany

This amazing model airport, based on Hamburg's Fuhisbuttel International Airport cost $4.8 million to construct.  It is on display at Germany's Miniatur Wunderland (which also houses the world's largest model railroad display - see 2/28/2011 posting).

Accessories include 40 planes, 40,000 lights, 15,00 figures, 10,000 cars, 50 trains, 1000 wagons, 100 signals, 200 switches and 300 buildings.    


click images to enlarge