Silver Swan Automaton

This graceful Silver Swan automaton dating from 1773 was created by Belgian inventor John Joseph Merlin in collaboration with London inventor James Cox.
The swan resides at the Bowes Museum in England where swims in a crystal pool, preens, looks about and as a grand finale sees a fish and “eats” it.



Mark Twain immortalized the swan in his book The Innocents Abroad:
“I watched a silver swan which had a living grace about its movements, an a living intelligence in its eyes—watched him swimming around as comfortably and as unconcernedly as if he had been born in a morass instead of a jeweler’s shop.”
More: Smithsonian

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