With bisque head, stamped in red "Deposé Tête Jumeau II" , fixed blue paperweight eyes, open mouth, upper teeth, pierced ears, original blonde mohair wig, jointed composition body with metal cover over chest, original finish and light "Bébé Jumeau, Diplome d'Honneur" inks stamp, dressed in antique pink silk and net dress, leather shoes and wired bonnet, height 24 in. (61 cm), crack on forehead and right temple/cheek – covered by wig, otherwise good. Housed in the doll's chest is the brass key-wind Lioret phonographe No. 1577, with "H.L." stamp, floating mica reproducer and 2 ¼ in. (5,8 cm) celluloid cylinder no. 1 ("Polichinelle") with original paper label: "Phonographe Système Lioret". – It was Jumeau's request to Henri Lioret (then a clockmaker) to produce a speaking mechanism for dolls that inspired his first patents for a phonograph in 1893. Lightweight and elegant in design, Lioret's mechanism, however, proved too fragile and expensive for use in a toy. Therefore the speaking dolls were not a commercial success at the time (and are correspondingly rare today). The "Merveilleux" phonograph in its own right came into being in 1895. Later in his career Lioret worked on sound for films; he died in 1938 at the age of 90. – The mechanism of this example is in good working order. A rare example of an historic early phonograph in toy-form.