Christie’s in South Kensington, London will be holding a one-off sale of unusual items in their “Out of the Ordinary” auction on September 5th 2013. As the items are open to the public to view, I went along yesterday to take a few snaps.
There’s a lot of great stuff in the salesrooms, and here a few of the photos that worked out:
Two-headed calf
This very Fortean stuffed two-headed calf dates from the second half of the twentieth century and was made to demonstrate polycephaly (having more than one head).
Titanic bell
Well, it isn’t actually from the real Titanic. This is a copy used in the 1958 film “A Night to Remember”, starring Kenneth More.
Chaise Madame chair
Denis Copen-designed anthropomorphic chair.
Chaise monsieur chair
And here’s the bloke version!
Cygan robot
Cygan is an Italian humanoid robot made in 1957 by aeromodeller Dr Ing Fiorito from Turin. He made an appearance at the Windmill Theatre in London in 1958 and opened the British Food Fair of that year. In the 1970s he was sold to a Ford car dealership who named him “Moto” and after that stint found his way into a private collection. He used to be able to walk and turn around, but doesn’t have the facility to do that any more.
Bearded Lady painting
Hélène Detroyat painted this intriguing image of a bearded lady.
Vivienne Westwood hats
The incomparable British designer Vivienne Westwood created the buffalo diamante-horned and bicorne hats pictured above, as well as two cowboy hats that are also being auctioned.
Silvered bronze skeleton
Derek the skeleton (that’s what I’ve called him, anyway) probably comes from Germany and was made in the second half of the twentieth century.
Hiroshi Furuyoshi painting
This extremely realistic and ever so slightly disturbing was painted by Furuyoshi in 2012.
Cave bear skelton
The cave bear died out 27,500 years ago but fortunately we have really well preserved skeletons like this one, simply because the creatures liked to hide out in caves.
Map of Paris, 1739
This enormous birds-eye map of Paris shows buildings such as the Tuileries palace and Bastille prison that no longer exist.
Stuffed peacock
The image doesn’t do justice to the colours of this magnificent peacock.
Marijuana poster.
Born in Belfast and now living in London, Julie McNamee is involved in internet marketing as a day job and blogging as a hobby. She’s interested in all things quirky and Fortean, as well as art, photography and theatre. Her blog Quirky Travel, specializes in London and Paris top tips and off the beaten path information with subjects such as London film locations and unusual Paris museums.
