Victor Bonnet: Le Clown Orchestre Number 253

Produced from about 1927
Brass nameplate between the legs

Operation:
With 5 keys you can operate one of the legs, arms or head per key, when you press a key a bell will sound.
The toy is made of tinplate, wood for the base and the back, paper, fabric and brass for the bells and the nameplate.
The height is about 25 cm

If you want to buy one, please note the following:
The basic color is blue, factory applied and not (hand) painted.
Around the neck is a piece of lace fabric and the clothes can be different in color, orange/blue, yellow/blue, orange/gray, they have often become very faded due to the influence of sunlight, so always place them out of the sunlight
There should be a pointed hat on the head
Also pay attention to the hand-painted face, the applied accents are applied quickly and tightly, with over-painted faces this is usually “vibrating”
The bells are made of brass
The wooden base and the back have a brown/red color
Under the keys and under the feet is a decorated paper ( in a few differend designs )

Toy makers needed new designs every time to produce.
Many of these designs came from the direct living environment of the makers.
Now I think the idea for this Victor Bonnet’s clown came from earlier toys produced because, I have found several earlyer examples from that time of toys that are very similar but produced by other toy makers.
See some examples here:

Courtesy Auction Team Breker
left figure is by Decamps around 1895, the right figure maker unknown around 1910 Source: the book “Faszinierende Welt der Automaten” from Annette Beyer 1983

Thanks for the help from publishing house Callwey München and from the toy museum Soltau Germany

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