Press Release

Great and Lesser Inventions Auction Team Breker's Specialty Auction on 21 May 2016

In 1913 the "Scientific American" magazine sponsored an essay competition to select the ten greatest inventions of “our time”. The inventions had to date from the past 25 years and be patentable. The prize-winning essay, penned by U.S. Patent Office employee William I. Wyman, elected the electric furnace (1889) as the greatest invention, followed by the gasoline-powered automobile in third place, wireless telegraphy in sixth and the Nikolas Tesla induction motor in eight place.

What would the list of today's greatest inventions look like ? A recent article in a British newspaper judged Bluetooth technology (2000), the Apple iPad (2010) and the Google driverless car (2012) amongst the top ten.

As Daniel Schlenoff wrote in an article in the same magazine in 2013, “perception is at the heart of the question. Inventions are most salient when we can see the historical changes they cause”. The English illustrator William Heath Robinson (1872-1944) too knew that a successful invention, even a fiendishly complex one, required not only mechanical ingenuity, but also a measure of good luck and a following wind. For every Steve Jobs there is a John Blankenbaker, for every Apple I a Kenbak personal computer – innovators and innovations that, under different circumstances, could arguably have influenced 'their time'.

Auction Team Breker's sale of »Science & Technology, Mechanical Music and Antique Toys« on 21 May 2016 in Cologne, Germany , featured just such a case: the "Autofono" , an historic jukebox forerunner by one of the unluckiest of American inventors, Oberlin Smith (1840 – 1926) of Bridgeton, New Jersey.

Smith's career began with the incorporation of the Ferractute Machine Co. for sheet-metal presses in 1877. As a leading supplier of stamped metal components, Smith rubbed shoulders with inventors such as Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, however it was his work as a pioneer of magnetic technology that nearly earned Smith a place in the history of recorded sound.

After seeing a demonstration of Edison's newly-invented tinfoil phonograph in 1877, Smith began experiments in sound recording and reproduction. Less than a year later, he had discovered how to store sound waves on silk thread impregnated with metal powder – the earliest form of magnetic recording . Unfortunately, though, Smith filed only a caveat (and not a patent) for his invention, allowing the Danish engineer Valdemar Poulsen (1869-1942) to make modifications to the earlier design and then claim magnetic recording as his own invention in July 1899.

Despite his disappointments in the field of recording, Smith did not give up his experiments. On 29 December 1921 he filed a patent application for an 'Automatic Phonograph' that could be operated remotely from any room in the house. Once more, Smith had anticipated an important invention, this time the jukebox , more than a decade before it became a commercial reality. Once again, however, he was not to receive credit for his

1 von 5 breakthrough. Smith passed away in 1926, the same year that his patent was finally granted. In a final piece of misfortune, one of only two Autofono prototypes was destroyed in a fire at the inventor's home in 1934.

The Autofono sold at Breker (Lot 446) is the only known surviving example of the first jukebox and, although in need of restoration, it surpassed pre-sale expectations to bring an impressive Euro 116.800,- / US$ 130,800.-!

Lot 446

Another first was the Malling-Hansen 'Writing Ball' , the earliest form of typewriter. Reverend Malling- Hansen, principal of the Royal Institute for the Deaf and Dumb, Copenhagen, designed his unique ergonomic typewriter in 1865 to help his students to “speak with their fingers”.

The Writing Ball attracted customers in all walks of life, from secretaries to philosophers. Perhaps its most famous, though certainly not its most satisfied user, was the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who hoped the device would allow him to overcome failing eyesight and continue writing.

“Hurrah ! The machine has arrived at my house !” wrote Nietzsche to his sister on 11 February 1882 upon the delivery of the machine he had ordered. Yet, despite his initial excitement, Nietzsche eventually gave up his struggles with the new technology – the closest things of its time to a laptop - after it was damaged on a trip to Genoa, complaining that the intricate machine required “patience and tact … in abundance”. A fine example of Malling-Hansen's Writing Ball elicited patient and persistent bidding, realising almost Euro 123.000,- / US$ 137,750.- at Breker's auction.

Lot 149 Lot 148

2 von 5 Though lighter, quieter and possessing most of the features of a more modern, portable typewriter, the Writing Ball was not nearly so successful as the 'Sholes and Glidden' brought out by E. Remington & Sons of Ilion, New York, in 1874.

The Remington firm drew on its success in the manufacture of sewing machines when decorating the new typewriter with floral transfers and miniature vignettes that appealed to a female clientele. The first truly commercial typewriter, the Sholes and Glidden revolutionised office communication, paving the way for a new female workforce. A well-preserved example at Breker's auction (Lot 148) brought Euro 29.500,- / US$ 33,000.- Even more iconic was an 'Enigma' cyphering machine from 1944 (Lot 41). The rare three-rotor model, used by the German armed forces during the second world war, sold for Euro 123.000,- / US$ 137,750.-

Lot 41 Lot 39 Lot 37

From the second world war to the Cold War, the so-called ‘Russian Enigma’ (the Fialka 'M-125-3' cipher machine) was introduced in 1956 for countries in the Warsaw Pact. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Untion, the remaining machines were recalled and dismantled. A rare survivor at Breker's sale (Lot 39) brought Euro 9.200,- / US$ 10,300.- Cryptology was also the subject of a brass cyphering disc designed to teach coding (Lot 37) for Euro 6.900,- / US$ 7,700.-

Not all of the machines in the auction, however, were purely functional. A collection of mechanical music instruments, ranging in size and scale from the modest to the magnificent, was designed to entertain.

The top lot in the section, a rare auto-change disc musical box by Symphonion Musikwerke of Leipzig (Lot 461) represented a sophisticated form of home entertainment system when new. More than one hundred years later, it still commanded a strong price at Euro 39.350,- / US$ 44,000.- Another piece that generated great interest from collectors was a delicate fusee movement by Martinet et Benoit of Geneva , one of only four known, selling for Euro 7.600,- / US$ 8,500.- (Lot 511).

3 von 5 Lot 461 Lot 511 Lot 400

The Rochat family of Geneva perfected the creation of miniature singing bird automata prized for their fine animation and complex bird song. A good example of a fusee singing bird box at Breker's auction (Lot 400) fetched Euro 27.000,- / US$ 30,250.-

Artificial life was not limited to Switzerland. Parisian maker Blaise Bontems was prolific in the creation of singing bird automata in cages. His oeuvre included a small series of ormolu and porcelain cages in homage to the work of the 18th century master Pierre Jaquet-Droz. Breker's auction presented a particularly fine model decorated with 'Sevres porcelain panels' (Lot 395) for Euro 14.750,- / US$ 16,500.-

Lot 395 Lot 574

Another majestic mechanical bird, Roullet et Decamps' promenading peacock , a luxurious and delicate toy that pursued its ponderous path on cast bronze feet (Lot 574), fetched Euro 11.000,- / US$ 12,300.-

The auction featured several fine automata, several inspired by Africa and Asia, including Gustave Vichy's bust of a 'smoking Japanese samurai' (Lot 577) for Euro 23.350,- / US$ 26,150.- and his animated sculpture of an 'Harpiste Ethiopienne' (Lot 572) for Euro 22.100,- / US$ 24,750.-

4 von 5 Lot 572 Lot 577

For a full set of realised prices, please see: http://www.auction-team.de/realized%20prices/rp_210516.htm . Auction Team Breker's next sales are scheduled for 24 September (Photographica & Film) and 5 November (Science, Technology, Mechanical Music & Fine Toys).

The Specialists in »Technical Antiques«

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