Potter & Potter Auctions
Live Auction

Automata: Life & Other Illusions

Sun, Jul 21, 2019 09:30PM EDT
Lot 13

Drinking Monkey Automaton.

Estimate: $1,500 - $2,000

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $5
$30 $10
$100 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $200
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$20,000 $2,000
$50,000 $5,000
$100,000 $10,000
Drinking Monkey Automaton. Circa 1900. Seated monkey figure holds a bottle in one hand and a cup in the other. When the mechanism is activated, he raises the bottle above the cup, pours a drink, and then raises the cup to his lips to drink. Real fur-covered body, leather face, wooden hands, and glass eyes. Internal clockwork mechanism. Height 12?. With a custom-made acrylic vitrine. Hands worn; good working condition. An earlier and scarcer version of this perennially-popular version of the drinking animal than those in the preceding lots. Versions of this automaton were fixtures in storefront windows for generations. This example is in choice, well-preserved condition.