The Only Known Pair of Matching Singing Bird Pistols – Attributed to Frères Rochat | Christie's

this pair of singing bird pistols from 1820 must be considered one of the most amazing mechanical works of art amongst the most precious objects for any collector of fine works of art they were made in an extremely limited number in fact we only know a four other pistols which can only be seen in the world's most important museums and this is the only pair of such pistols known to have survived these pistols are attributed to a Geneva workshop Frere Russia the Russia family is originally from the Valle de jewel they came to Geneva in the early 19th century and were specialized in any objects in making any object incorporating music automaton and in particular singing birds the mechanism which is composed of several hundreds of screws wheels levers is an ingenious masterwork where every piece has its specific position and is pushing the bird out of the barrel the minute you activate it and on a small pin the bird is flipping upwards to sit on the barrel and then within that you all the commands for its wings the tail and the beak are activated the song of the bird is inside the pistol again a genius mechanism that makes it sound like if it was a real birds whistling the pistols which as such are beautiful objects really reveal their fascination once that you wound them underneath you charge it and then you pull the trigger and then out of the barrel comes a little bird with real feathers and then it performs its song it is even more impressive when you observe the birds movements in slow motion [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the pistols are made out of gold the case is beautifully ornamented with blue and red enamel but highlighted on top of that with pearls and diamonds on the sides there are wonderfully decorated plaques depicting a stack and the lion the value of these two pistols is very difficult to determine given their excessively high level of rarity interestingly here at Christie's we sold one individual pistol over 20 years ago at auction in Geneva it fetched at the time a hammer price of 1 million dollars and that should give us an indication of how exceedingly rare and valuable they are they carry now an auction estimate of 2.5 - 5 million US dollars for the pair [Music] these pistols are in absolutely exceptional condition with no damage to the case and the mechanism is absolutely wonderfully performing I think it's a great chance for mankind that these two objects have survived in such great condition [Music]

Channel: Christie's

Views: 815,444

Rating: 4.8760762 out of 5

Keywords: Christie's, Auction, Art, Watches, Singing Bird Pistols, Jewelry, Luxury, Hong Kong, gold, enamel, jewels, Jewellery, Aurel Bacs, Frères Rochat, bird, pistols, bird pistols

Id: vd8SaNzeZqk

Length: 4min 38sec (278 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 07 2012

Reddit Comments

[u/XenophonTheBoss]

Who even thinks of something like this?

"You know what I need to add to this diamond-encrusted pistol?"

"More diamonds?"

"God no. A miniature version of a chirping bird."

[u/Zoroko]

It took me way too long to realize they weren't actually real firearms...

[u/NegaScott23]

Guy sounds like Christoph Waltz

[u/ragamuffin77]

That's incredible 190 years old and it still works.

[u/smiley77502]

That's insane wish I had a pair or just 5.8 million would be nice too

[u/nodnodwinkwink]

I'd like to see a rapper use these in a video.

[u/IridiumForte]

Lion and a Stag. Welp.

[u/Stanley_Gimble]

"It is even more impressive, when you observe the bird's movement in slow motion."

No, not really.

[u/Eucalypteae]

The way the narrator punctuates his sentences makes him sound like John Malkovich.