The antique toys sale at Morphy in Denver, Pennsylvania, on Mar 10-11 includes an array of French automata with creations by makers Leopold Lambert, Gustav Vichy and Jean Roullet.

Extracted from Antiques Trade Gazette | ATG Reporter

The Lune Fin de Siècle is one of Vichy’s most recognisable automata. Used as a registered trademark on the company’s letterheads, labels and advertising, it was designed c.1891, probably by Henry Vichy (the founder’s son).

Employing a popular motif in French literature and visual culture of the period, the curious figure tilts his plaster-composition head from side to side, rolls his eyes and twirls his cane as he inhales from a lighted cigarette.

This example is estimated at $30,000-60,000.