Important Watches, Pocket Watches and...

Noga Hilton Hotel, Nov 13, 2005

LOT 205

?Singing Bird? Griesbaum, German. Made circa 1950 in the style of the late 19th Century. Fine, silvered brass singing bird box with the original Griesbaum brass bird-form winding key.

CHF 2,500 - 3,500

EUR 1,600 - 2,300 / USD 2,000 - 2,700

C. Rectangular, ?bombé? form cast with relief decoration of scrolls and flowers, the hinged bird cover cast with a female mask surrounded by flowers and scrolls. M. Singing bird movement: going barrel, rectangular belows, Griesbaum whistle, the bird rotating and moving wings and beak, controlled by a rack and two cams mounted beneath the barrel, gilt brass grill engraved with foliage, activated by a pull-stop in the side of the case. Dim. 127 x 96 x 87 mm.


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Grading System
Grade: A

Good
Case: 3-5

Good

Poor
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense

Notes

For an identical box by Griesbaum, see: ?Flights of Fancy-Mechanical Singing Birds?, Sharon & Christian Bailly, Antiquorum Editions, p. 351. Griesbaum Founded in 1905 by Karl Griesbaum (1872-1941) in Triberg, in the Black Forest. The son of Mathias Griesbaum, a clockmaker, Karl began by working in the basement of his home. Karl Griesbaum had five children: Mathias (1902-1974), who was named after his grandfather, Karl Joseph (b. 1916), Amalia, Helena, and Caroline. Mathias studied clockmaking in Furtwangen, then pursued commercial studies in Karlsruhe, and later went to Switzerland. The most typical Griesbaum pieces produced during this period were probably their snuff boxes, particularly those made in a style reminiscent of traditional German silversmithery.