Novelty appeal of well known collection
UK: Sotheby’s horological sales always incorporate a section on mechanical music. Their latest event featured material from a well known, leading figure in this trade: the late Jack Donovan, the Portobello Road dealer in tinplate toys, automata and musical boxes, who died in 1998.
Mr. Donovan’s automata collection had formed the basis of the York Museum of autonoma, which is now …