Decapitating, Rat-Eating Clocks of the Black Forest

When I was a kid many homes had kitschy cuckoo clocks. Every hour on the hour little
wooden figures would emerge to the annoying cuckoo sound that has been known to drive
strong men over the edge.

Collectors Weekly's latest post features an interview with collector Justin Miller and Black
Forest clocks with automata, or moving mechanical features. These range from timepieces
used as mini-jukeboxes to play different tunes to clocks with animated figures who dance,
eat, or even murder each other.

Black Forest timepieces incorporating a butcher, circa 1840 (left), and a French soldier 

munching a plate of rats, circa 1870 (right). The butcher is animated every hour by a 

wood-plate metal spindled movement, while the rat-eater is activated every 10 minutes 

with a solid brass-plate movement.

Definitely not your grandma's cuckoo!