Pair of Singing Bird Pistols Sold by Christie’s (Hong Kong)
Antiques, Auction Sales, Mechanical Toys, Singing Bird Pistols
Not useful for combat, these exquisite mechanical toys made in Geneva circa 1820 were probably used for amorous duels in some European court.
Bloomberg reported the sale results.
A pair of singing-bird pistols made of gold and inlaid with gems sold for HK$45.5 million ($5.8 million) at a Christie’s International sale in Hong Kong [on May 30th].
A huge round of applause erupted after a 10-minute fight that Christie’s head of watches Aurel Bacs described as “an epic bidding war between two of the world’s most connoisseur collectors.†The only publicly known matching pair in the world were included in a 456-lot sale of timepieces that raised HK$164.7 million ($21.2 million), the highest tally for an Asian watch sale, the London-based auction house said. Two Patek Philippe watches sold for more than $1 million each.
Hat tip to Fred Lapides.