Rare Henry Vichy Automaton Soldier with Lioret "Le Merveilleux"

With composition head, blue glass eyes, brown hair wig, metal hands holding a bugle, poised on papier-mâché fort with hinged door for access to three-cam  going-barrel automaton movement with Lioret phonograph and cylinder, in original blue satin jacket, height 18 ½ in. (46 cm), with pierced Vichy key and "acorn" stop/start. The same motor controls the animation and the phonograph, raising and lowering the reproducer onto the cylinder at the appropriate part of the cycle so that the recording of a bugle call is sounded when the soldier brings the instrument to his lips. – Note: Lioret phonographs were  fitted into a  small number of automata  produced during Henry Vichy's tenure as company director. An advertisement from 1895 listed automata which "speak, sing, and actually play various instruments", and a Vichy tune-sheet (cross reference following Lot no. 574) claimed that any of the firm's phonograph models could be customised with a Lioret phonograph. – The system had originally been developed by Henri Lioret in response to Emile Jumeau's request for a speaking mechanism for his dolls. Lioret's design proved too expensive and unreliable to make the Bébé Phonographe into a commercial success. The same was apparently true of the Vichy-Lioret automata, as only a few surviving examples are known. – Literature: Illustrated in Mary Hillier, "Automata and Mechanical Toys" (1976), p. 121. – Extraordinarily good condition, works perfectly with all movements and phonograph sound. – A superb collector's item and exhibition piece! 
Rare Black Banjo-Player Automaton by Lambert, c. 1885 With papier-mâché head, brown glass eyes, articulated eyelids and jaw, bisque hands, the left supporting neck of a four-string wood banjo, going-barrel motor in the body playing two airs (per turn) and causing the figureto turn and nod his head, strum with his right hand, blink and move his mouth as though singing, very  impressive active movement of the head, in rose satin tailcoat, ruffled shirt with wing-collar, black tights and pointed shoes, on velvet-covered base with remains of tune-sheet, height 23 ½ in. (59 cm), with Lambert key and stop/start, two fingers repaired. –  Literature:Christian Bailly, "Automata, The Golden Age", p. 343 in catalogue. – Movement and music work excellently. Avery impressive performer!