Friday 28 December 2012

If You Missed It The First Time Round,

the mechanical 'Ethiopian caterpillar' is up for sale again,


back in November 2010 it was at auction when it went for $415,000 at Sotheby's, it is thought to date back as far as 1820, this incredible pre-electronic mechanical robot was made by Swiss watchmaker Henri Maillardet, who with legendary watchmaker Jaquet Droz, organised an exhibition to show off his menagerie of miniaturised automata in London,


the auctioneers said in a statement: 'the body realistically designed to represent a caterpillar comprising eleven jointed ring segments, framed by seed pearls, and decorated with translucent red enamel over an engine-turned ground, studded overall with gold-set rubies, turquoise, emeralds,and diamonds', just do not wind it up and leave near a bird table!

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