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Example Repair

Before STEINER AUTOMATON
         
I was asked if I could repair an automaton that had been used to store a hat on and had been attacked by a playful kitten, its history was unknown.

As soon as it arrived I recognised the bits of the porcelain head as being French and old.  We put the head back together again, oiled and re-fixed the dancing mechanism and it was then dressed in an appropriate costume and fitted with a mohair wig.

It is a "walking Steiner" made by Jules Nicholas Steiner in Paris around 1878 and when wound up it moves forward and raises its arms.

After