Restoration of a 130 year old Magician automaton features in episode 10 of series 3 and is described as a “world class” restoration. The Magician was made by Phalibois of Paris and features a clown with a disappearing head!

Episode 2 details our restoration of a spectacular 4 foot high  Drumming Bear.
The bear came as a box of bits from a previous failed restoration. The body had been covered in a layer of fibre glass which needed to be painstakingly chipped off. The fur was alive with insects and the drum was missing.  Its a remarkable automaton and is the size of  small person.

The world famous Atlas Obscura from New York have interviewed the The House of Automata for Show & Tell. The show goes to their huge subscriber base with a 99% thumbs up rate! You can see it by clicking the LINK HERE.

Thursday 16th April at 4pm. On Instagram. A fleeting half hour in a Magical world of of Mechanical Life. Weekly on Thursdays for as long as the Pandemic Lockdown lasts in the UK.

This Thursday (16th April) will feature Maria ………. showing Workshop techniques to replace a missing head and Michael telling the surprising story of the Birth of Automata with rare pieces performing along the way.

Live Instagram is best viewed on a phone screen by pressing the clown face icon on our Instagram page at 4pm british summertime (that is gmt +1 hour). We will go live one minute before 4pm.

The webcast stays viewable on Instagram for 24 hours and from then on our popular  Youtube channel

We will be presenting a LIVE show this THURSDAY 4pm on Instagram and Facebook. Broadcast from the Attic of our workshop in the Highlands of Scotland. Michael and Maria will present 40 minutes of dramatic entertainment assisted by clockwork performers from the 19th century. Our cameras will be operated by Maud Start and quite possibly there will be sound effects and unexpected drama from her Baby Fred (7 weeks ) and Puppy Nelly. This is our Covid 19 virus Lockdown family group. We also have a large audience of virus resistant ventriloquist dummies to perform for and thousands of our great friends online LIVE! THURSDAY 4pm UK time, USA 8am in LA and 11am in New York.

On Instagram click on the face icon at the top of the page. We will be going live at 3.55pm for the 4pm show

On Facebook watch live at 4pm Thursday April 2nd and the show will stay on the feed for later viewing if you can’t make it then.

The latest for sale, restorations, and film of amazing automata in action, in pieces and in the workshop. Ranging from an exquisite treasure like the Gold Fairy Ship to the rather dubious Tin Devil and Nun. Scroll up on the comments to see the text description.

thehouseofautomata

Princely Toys - 1976. Listen 🎶 to this sublime

Tiger Automaton - The moving jaw is mounted on the

Monkey mechanism c.1950 Musical mechanism of the M

We had the Spooners, Paul & Sue up to visit last w

It’s Coronation Day & God Save the King, a Nelso

This is the first time the Archer is activated fol

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Our man on the moon was there 80 years before Apollo’s and now he is on loan to the blockbuster MOON exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in London.

Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Man’s landing on the Moon, the exhibition charts the cultural and scientific story of our relationship with the Moon, featuring over 180 objects, including artefacts from NASA’s Apollo 11 mission.

Pierrot Serenading the Moon c1880 by Gustave Vichy of Paris

Two presentations of wonderful automata in action in Edinburgh at the National Museum of Scotland. Machines pre-dating Robots and made to entertain and amaze you! See 19th century mechanical moving figures performing for you,  singing birds, acrobats and magicians. The springs will be let fly by The House of Automata with an introduction from  Dr Tacye Phillipson, Head of Science at the Museum.

EXPLORING AUTOMATA at the National Museum of Scotland

Book in advance- Limited places.