Produced from 1893
Product number 126 (In the books known to us, this toy has the Martin product number 44 which is not correct.)
Hand lacquered
Mechanism: Rubber Band
Length approx. 30 cm/ 11,8 inches
Height approx. 17 cm/ 6,69 inches++
The next text is from the magazine : La nature 1894 and is translated:
Silent parrot.
The toy we represent below was one of the successes of the New Year’s Day shops on the boulevards of Paris.
The parrot in question is mute, silent, it does not shout and does not pull with its chatter.
On the other hand, it mimes, pantomimes, proudly camped on its perch, it swings and greets as gracefully as it is possible.
This parrot is one of those mechanical toys whose movement is caused by the replacement of a cable or assembly of twisted rubber wires by means of a small crank.
The transmitted movement displaces the center of gravity of the parrot and gives it the swinging movement.
Can be found at the New Year’s Day shop of: M. A. Welter, 9 bis, passage Humer, in Paris.
In the drawing you can see that the winding mechanism is hidden in its (red) tail, the L-shaped winding handle is at the end of this long tail, the rubber band is hidden in the tail up to the mechanism in its belly part.
When moving the mechanism the parrot swings on its perch.
This is a very rare to find toy, there is one in the book “THE HISTORY OF MARTIN MECHANICAL TOYS” by Frédéric Marchand on page 87 and there is one known in the gift in 1908 of Martin to the Musée des arts et métiers in Paris, an image of which can be found in the book “FERNAND MARTIN TOYMAKER IN PARIS” on page 66, by Lourens Bas and Arthur Verdoorn.
