Early 20th Century Animatronic Diamond Advertisements?

April 30, 2017 5:56 PM

I saw some small automatons that were advertising diamonds and jewelry that seemed like I saw at House on the Rock. Were they really a thing? Was it really just jewelry? Where can I find more information?

You can see some examples here. A lot of them were pretty simple automatons, advertising diamonds, wedding rings, and jewels in general. They all appeared to be metal, and my guess would be 1910's to 1940's. Were these a typical way of advertising for jewelers? Was it just jewelers? Since it was House on the Rock, it's hard to tell what's real. Also, since this was House on the Rock, there were a ton of them, but it was difficult to get any specific information about any of them, and I doubt I'd be able to ask anyone there to tell me more.

posted by dinty_moore to Grab Bag (2 answers total)

Best answer: I had this same question after visiting House on the Rock! They're "Baranger Motions", or, since it is the House on the Rock, maybe they're knock-offs.
posted by kittyb at 5:53 AM on May 1, 2017 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thank you! I had so many questions after leaving, thank you for taking care of the one I had that was answerable.
posted by dinty_moore at 6:27 AM on May 1, 2017