Do you have $15,000 to blow on disconcerting old automata? Well, have we a bargain for you! For a mere $10-$15K, you can win this automaton recreation of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, complete with a tiny mechanical Judas plotting away. Here's the auction description and a nine-minute video detailing the weirdness:
The Lord's Supper Automaton, attributed to Henry Phalibois, c. 1890, the automaton based on Da Vinci's, The Lord's Supper features Jesus and the twelve Apostles in period clothing moving as if in serious conversation at a long table set with pewter dishes and goblets, complex gearing and drives all powered by two 110 and 220 volt 60-cycle motors [...]
And for those enterprising readers with even more cash to burn on conversation-stopping dioramas, here's a cheerful morgue automaton from the early 20th century for $4,000-$6,000. Old school fun for the whole family, just like that mechanical opium den!
"St. Dennistoun Mortuary" Coin-Operated Automaton, attributed to Leonard Lee, c. 1900, the mahogany cabinet and glazed viewing area displays a Greek Revival mortuary building with double doors and grieving mourners out front, when a coin is inserted, doors open and the room is lighted revealing four morticians and four poor souls on embalming tables, the morticians move as if busily at work on their grisly task and mourners standing outside bob their heads as if sobbing in grief [....]
RELATED: Archaic Robo-Satan.
[Via Morbid Anatomy]