"St. Dennistoun Mortuary" Coin-Operated Automaton LIVE AND IN ACTION!!!

Regular readers of Morbid Anatomy might remember a recent post on this blog about an amazing 1920/30s era coin-operated automaton depictingthe St. Dennistoun Mortuary (yes, really!) that will be going to auction this Saturday. Skinner Auction House just sent along a video of this magnificent machine in action.

Press play above and enjoy. WOW.

The piece is estimated to go for between $4,000-$6,000 as part of an upcoming Science, Technology & Clocks auction taking place Saturday, June 2 at 10:00AM. Full lot description from the Skinner Auctioneers website follows:

Lot 207
"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, ht. 30 1/2, wd. 24, dp. 17 1/4 in.

Estimate $4,000-6,000

Brass coin plate stamped J. Dennison Leeds NO. 80

As I said before, whoever buys this, please (please!!!) let me come over to meet it! You can find out more about it here.

"St. Dennistoun Mortuary" Coin-Operated Automaton, Attributed to Leonard Lee, c. 1900, Skinner Auctioneers, June 2, 2012

All I have to say is WOW: pictured above are scenes from a coin-operated automaton (which I am guessing is from the 1920s or 30s, rather than 1900 as the auctioneers claim) in which, after 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."

This object is for sale (!!!) and is estimated to go for between $4,000-$6,000 as part of an upcoming Science, Technology & Clocks auction taking place on June 2, 2012 10:00AM. Full lot description from the Skinner Auctioneers website follows:

Lot 207
"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, ht. 30 1/2, wd. 24, dp. 17 1/4 in.

Estimate $4,000-6,000

Brass coin plate stamped J. Dennison Leeds NO. 80

You can find out more and see the other lots--which include other automatons including an amazing automaton last supper!--by clicking here. My only plea, if any of you Morbid Anatomy readers purchase this, please (please!) invite me over to see it in action! I would certainly buy it myself if I could afford it. If the Musée Mécanique is still actively collecting, this would make a wonderful addition to their rich collection of coin-op toys depicting deaths by such means as guillotine, French execution, and English execution; yes, really. More on that here.

Thanks so much to Morbid Anatomy readers Nanette Rod and Jane Fuller for bringing this amazing object to my attention! All images sourced from the auctioneer website; click on images to see larger versions.

Morgue Slabs, East End of London, Free to a Good Home

This just in from Morbid Anatomy reader Eoin:

I work at an artists studio and we are currently having a clear out. We have four old morgue slabs and their bases that we are trying to dispose of. They are free to a good home but the new owner must take them all and arrange their own pick-up and delivery, they weigh well over a ton! Each slab is a four person lift. They are currently in the East End of London. I hope that we can find a new home as soon as possible (within a week to ten days) or we will have to unfortunately dump them.

Interested parties can email Eoin at studio@makesomespace.co.uk.

Vintage Mortician Photos?

Morbid Anatomy reader Aeron Alfrey sent along these wonderful photographs, which he described as "Vintage Mortician Photos." Looking at the photos, it seems to me that they are probably medical students with their cadavers rather than morticians in training, due to the level of dissection we see in the images. Nevertheless, they are lovely. He originally found them here.

Thanks, Aeron!