The Magic of the McCullough Musical Automaton
3 Video Views·Aug 31, 2025
Step into a world where music and mechanics come alive! In this fascinating video, we explore the McCullough Musical Automaton — a stunning blend of craftsmanship, innovation, and artistry. Watch as intricate gears, levers, and delicate details work in perfect harmony to create mesmerizing music and motion. Whether you’re a lover of mechanical wonders, music, or history, this automaton is sure to captivate your imagination. Discover the magic behind the mechanism and the story that brings this extraordinary creation to life.
I'm extremely excited to share two amazing highlights from our sale in Hong Kong on October 13th.
Made for the Chinese market and of museum quality is this absolutely exceptional snuff box with music
and automata magician and the second object is this lavishly decorated gold enamel
So Chinese market it really started in around 1700 where French watchmakers and Swiss watch makers
from Geneva would make watches for the Orient. So here we have a magician's music automata box.
There are five known magician boxes. You can see this incredible painting here rendered on the lid.
The box is set with pearls which is very typical for the Chinese market.
We have enamel panels. The box is known as a question and answer box. If I show you in the side
we have a small drawer made of gold and inside we have six tablets. So I take one of the questions
and I insert it into the drawer here. So if I open up here once the the box is activated
the question that I've inserted will be revealed by the magician in this aperture just above the
tree. So the second treasure made for the Chinese market is this exceptional necessaire or work box.
Now a lady 200 years ago a lady of any substance could really show her wealth her place in society
by how lavishly decorated and how expensive her travel box would be. Our own personal items there's
some gold scissors a perfume bottle a knife some tweezers but what's incredible and quite rare in
itself is the original gold and enamel key. So at the bottom here you see we have this beautifully
rendered time with regulator above. So if I take my original key I just wind the clock here
there's a small cylinder escapement underneath and then on the other side of the box
we open up in a similar fashion you see we have here we have the miniaturized automata.
This particular necessaire again made for the Chinese market is exquisitely made from the
finest materials available at the time. Please join us to witness these exceptional works of art
as many as hundreds of other horological masterpieces for sale in Hong Kong on October the 13th.