Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces
Hong Kong, Jul 23, 2020
LOT 85
Attributable to Karl Griesbaum
Singing-bird box; gilded metal and enamel
Singing-bird box; gilded metal and enamel
HKD 40,000 - 56,000
CHF 5,000 - 7,000 / USD 5,300 - 7,400
Gilded metal, key-winding, horizontal singing-bird box.
Rectangular box enamelled with Swiss landscapes; on the front, the Tellskapelle (chapel of Wilhelm Tell) and the Vierwaldstättersee (Lake Lucerne); on the reverse, the Chillon Castle (Geneva Lake); oval cover of the bird decorated en suite with a view of Geneva, the passerelle des Bergues (Bergues Bridge) and the Ile Rousseau (Rousseau island and park).
Rectangular box enamelled with Swiss landscapes; on the front, the Tellskapelle (chapel of Wilhelm Tell) and the Vierwaldstättersee (Lake Lucerne); on the reverse, the Chillon Castle (Geneva Lake); oval cover of the bird decorated en suite with a view of Geneva, the passerelle des Bergues (Bergues Bridge) and the Ile Rousseau (Rousseau island and park).
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: AAA |
Excellent |
Case: 3 |
Good |
Movement: 3* |
Good Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense |
Brand Unsigned, Triberg (Black Forest)
Year circa 1920
Caliber rectangular (90 x 55 mm.) brass, going barrel, bellows and cams; the revolving bird with moving wings, beak and tail, controlled by two cams mounted beneath the barrel wheel unnumbered (stamped “E B”)
Dimensions 55 x 105 x 65 mm.
Accessories later fitted box, brass winding-key (in the shape of a bird)
Notes
Griesbaum, Karl (1872-1941)
The firm Griesbaum was founded in 1905 in Germany, in the Black Forest, in Triberg (BadenWurttemberg), by Karl Griesbaum (1872-1941). He is the son of Mathias Griesbaum, a clockmaker. He began working as a micro-mechanic in the basement of his home. He has five children who will work with him: Mathias (1902-1974), Amalia, Helena, Caroline and Karl Joseph (b.1916). Mathias studied clockmaking in Furtwangen, pursued commercial studies in Karlsruhe, as well as in Switzerland. The most typical items of the Griesbaum House are probably their snuff-boxes with a singing bird, particularly those made in a style reminiscent of the traditional German silversmiths of earlier centuries, but also their boxes with two singing birds and those serving as boxes for cigarettes.
The firm Griesbaum was founded in 1905 in Germany, in the Black Forest, in Triberg (BadenWurttemberg), by Karl Griesbaum (1872-1941). He is the son of Mathias Griesbaum, a clockmaker. He began working as a micro-mechanic in the basement of his home. He has five children who will work with him: Mathias (1902-1974), Amalia, Helena, Caroline and Karl Joseph (b.1916). Mathias studied clockmaking in Furtwangen, pursued commercial studies in Karlsruhe, as well as in Switzerland. The most typical items of the Griesbaum House are probably their snuff-boxes with a singing bird, particularly those made in a style reminiscent of the traditional German silversmiths of earlier centuries, but also their boxes with two singing birds and those serving as boxes for cigarettes.