Bright skies and brisk bidding marked another successful sale for Auction Team Breker on 19 November 2011. Buyers filled seats in the saleroom and in front of the computers across the world (Breker has a strong online auction presence) for six hundred lots of scientific instruments, office antiques, tin toys, mechanical music instruments and musical automata.

One of the day's top sellers was an important early 20^th century four-stroke Otto petrol motor (lot 215) by Deutz AG of Cologne, dated 1895.

Seasoned collectors will remember that Auction Team Breker made headlines in 2002 for selling the 1st model of the Otto motor from 1870 for EUR 145.000/US$ 192,000. The recent example was a 20 years later model of Nicolas August Otto's landmark 1870 design that motorised the world but, with its original cast brass plaques and steel platform, nevertheless impressive. It sold to a collector for EUR 32.000/US$ 43,200.

        Lot 215

From a selection of medical antiques, an early surgical set by Mariod of Paris (lot 274) will provide its new owner many hours of amusement at EUR 700/US$ 950, while fifty opthalmist's glass eyes reposing on cotton wool in their original box (lot 275) caught the attention of several collectors at EUR 633/US$ 850.

  
               Lot 274                           Lot 275

A group of scientific demonstration instruments drew bids from the room, the telephones and the internet. A handsome Tesla coil (lot 243) with original Leyden jar, polished mahogany plinth and lacquered-brass terminals sold for EUR 3.170/US$ 4,280. Two astronomical models also took off. The first was a so-called 'finger' orrery from the early 19^th century by Bath optician Abraham (lot 246). With its hand-coloured engraved paper horizon ring and geared brass mechanism causing an ivory Earth and Moon to revolve around a gilt-brass Sun, it fetched EUR 5.071/US$ 6,850. Also in demand was a mechanical planetarium (lot 247), with clockwork mechanism that illustrated the rotation of the Earth, Moon, Jupiter and four Galillean moons, for EUR 6.085/US$ 8,215.


     
            Lot 243                           Lot 246                  Lot 247

A specialised assortment of pioneer office machines included a Polyglotte pocket typewriter beautifully preserved in its original box (lot 68) for EUR 3.690/US$ 5,000, an unconventional American Keaton Music Typewriter (lot 75) for EUR 4.920/US$ 6,650 and an 1896 "Buckner Lino-Typewriter" (lot 111) for EUR 3.200/US$ 4,320.

     
            Lot 68                           Lot 75                           Lot 111

The first model of the light-weight Crown, designed by Byron S. Brooks of New York in 1888 (lot 116), with the low serial number 209, excited interest on both sides of the Atlantic for EUR 7.625/US$ 10,300. The Burnett, a streamlined machine with sloping type-bar produced for a few months in 1907, fetched EUR 5.900/US$ 8,000 (lot 117) , and a clean example of the collectors' favourite, the Caligraph No. 1 of 1883, reached EUR 6,760/US$ 9,130 (lot 113).

     
                 Lot 116                           Lot 117                             Lot 113

The highest priced typewriter of the day was the Burns No. 1 (lot 115) from Buffalo, New York. Production started in 1894 and ceased after just one year. One of the earliest examples of this model to have appeared at auction, it carried low serial number 3 (!) and a high price tag of EUR 8.600/US$ 11,600.


            Lot 115

A fascinating link between the writing machines and the toys in the auction was an automaton that combined both functions. "Colombine" is a sophisticated  28-inch 'android' created by the late Claude Laurent of Grenoble (lot 523). Laurent and his wife Geneviève originally worked for J.A.F. (Jouets et Automates Français), successor to Vichy-Triboulet, before establishing their own atelier in 1987. Reminiscent of the automaton in the soon-to-be released Martin Scorsese film Hugo, Colombine inscribes her lover's on an ever-fresh sheet of paper, thanks to the complex three-way articulation of her hand that reproduces an uncannily lifelike writing motion. Fluttering eyelids and gentle rhythmic 'breathing' accompanied Colombine's performance and beguiled a bidder at EUR 40.000/US$ 54,000.


    Lot 523

Antique automata in the auction included an elegant "Marquis Smoker" a la Watteau by Leopold Lambert (lot 426) for EUR 9.850/US$ 13,280, and an all-original "Mouse Trainer" by Louis Renou (lot 424) for EUR 10.450/US$ 14,100. A large example of the "Magic Theatre" by the same maker (lot 427) features a beautiful Jumeau conjuror with a changing cast of five dancing men who appear and disappear from the stage of a puppet booth each time she raps her wand on the roof. Attracting bids from all over the world, she sold for EUR 32.000/US$ 43,000.

     
     Lot 426               Lot 424                     Lot 427

Two traditional clockwork toys that also attracted international interest were a charming "Berliet" double-decker tin bus from the workshop of Parisian artisan Pinard (lot 612) at EUR 7.600/US$ 10,270 and a very rare double-team buggy with rider by Connecticut toy maker George Brown (lot 583) at EUR 19.675/US$ 26,560.

  
            Lot 612                        Lot 583

A group of sixty mechanical musical instruments yielded more than a few surprises. An 11 3/4-inch Symphonion disc musical box in elaborate pressed walnut bombe case (lot 396) fetched EUR 6.900/US$ 9,300, while a superb 18 3/4-inch Fortuna musical box with 34 discs and matching stand (lot 392), all in fresh original condition, made three-fold its low estimate at EUR 8.240/US$ 11,125. A Regina Hexaphone auto-change phonograph (lot 379), also in unusually good condition down to the original finish on the oak case, sold for EUR 11.700/US$15,770.

     
      Lot 396                  Lot 392           Lot 379

Completing this group of princely toys was a delicate objet de vertu in the form of a miniature singing bird automaton in Hungarian gilt cage (lot 373) with wrought perch and guilloché enamel sides, which flew to a new home for EUR 6.600/US$ 8,900.


   Lot 373

The next sale is scheduled for 26 May 2012. The closing dates for entries will be 30 March 2012. For a 2012 sale calendar and news of forthcoming highlights, visit online at www.breker.com.