1880's-1890's IVES CLOCKWORK FANCY DRESSED MONKEY SITTING RINGING TWO BELLS TOY

Description: An all original clockwork sitting monkey toy made by the Ives Toy Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut. The 1891 Ives Blakeslee & Williams Company catalog shows a line drawing & offers examples of this toy for sale. In that catalog the toy was assigned a catalog number of 49-10. The name of the toy in the catalog is listed as "The Mechanical Performing Monkey" with bells. They were offered for sale in 1891 at $36.00 per dozen. In the superb book "American Clockwork Toys 1862-1900" by Blair Whitton this seated Ives toy monkey is described on page 183 & pictured on page 184. Whitton mentions that this toy was manufactured by Ives in the late 1880's to early 1890's. Also mentioned is that the clockwork mechanism in the monkey was possibly based on the mechanism which was designed & patented by Robert Clay in 1872. As Ives purchased the rights to Clay's patent in 1883 it is likely that Ives adopted it for use in the mechanism of this clockwork seated monkey. The all original paint on the face is in excellent condition. The velvet hat shows some wear around the edges. The lace components around the edges of the clothing show some wear & browning from age but are mostly present. The red jacket is very bright but shows some loss of surface flocking in some areas & there are also a few very tiny holes. The simulated fur on neck, tail, & legs shows some losses but is mostly present. The pants are faded & soiled. All of the original blue cloth comprising the pants is entirely present. However, there are numerous tears & separations to the bottom of the pants & also to the lower sides of the pants. Very little of this shows when the monkey is sitting down as 75% or more of the tears in the pants are underneath & about 1/2 of the balance of the tears on the pants are covered up by the back bottom edge of his jacket. This example has original ornate clothing with lace fringe, piping, & original components. One of the tiny brass buttons is missing off of his jacket on the back & one is missing off of his jacket at the front bottom. There are no replacements of any clothing components & no replacements of any other components on the monkey. There is some wear to the detailed fringed piping on his jacket. Everything shown in the pictures is original including the bells which have some toning but lots of original luster is still present. The only exception is the winding key. The old, but not original, brass key which is present to wind the mechanism is tighter than we feel it should be on the key wind shaft. This toy would have originally had a cast iron key which was longer & was of a different style than the brass clock key which is currently present with the toy. We have attempted to slide the key off to look at it. But, the key seems frozen to the shaft. We have tried to see if the mechanism works. The mechanism seems like it is overwound. We tried a few times & got him to work a little bit in several short spurts of action. He moved his head from side to side while he went up & down & moved his arms while ringing the bells. But, because of the sluggish & random nature of it working a little & then not working which we have experienced in our several tests & because of not wishing to chance harming the toy with any more testing: WE HAVE DECIDED THAT WE ARE OFFERING THIS TOY AS NOT WORKING!! Amazingly, a few minutes after writing the previous sentence & after futzing around with him for almost 1 1/2 hours, he started working on his own without us touching him & ran for at least 4 to 5 minutes non-stop. But, because of his nature we will stick with our previous statement: "we are offering this toy as not working". We have owned this for many years & have had the toy in a closed cabinet & not subject to dust or light. Today is the first time we have ever actually tried to get the toy to work. An exceptionally pleasing & all original example of this charming classic American clockwork Ives toy bell ringing seated monkey. Please examine the photos closely & purchase based on your own judgement as to condition & value. This item is inventory #10547. Shipping is free and available only to addresses within the U.S.

Price: 3250 USD

Location: Lampeter, Pennsylvania

End Time: 2024-11-15T20:31:38.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD