The Gypsy Queen Verbal Fortune Teller

[tim575]

For those who like automata, while there was another post in Discoveries about the reproductions made of the 1908 Mills Verbal fortune teller, that was not the only type of wax cylinder based fortune teller of the day. About the same timeframe there was also the Gypsy Queen Verbal Fortune Teller. For the Mills machine, only one original exists and 7 reproductions, which use 2 cylinder players each with 6" wax cylinders that have 11 fortunes each (one player for men and one for women).

The Gypsy Queen is simpler than the Mills version with only a single player with standard 4.25" wax cylinder that has 3 fortunes, with a cabinet decked out to look like a tent. From what I have found I don't believe there is a fully intact original anywhere, although photos/flyer exist for it, but 3 of these have come up for auction in the last 40 years, and look nearly identical, and I believe all 3 are mostly or fully recreated.

Given the Mills original has had offers of 1 to 2 Million dollars turned down, most collectors have to get by with reproductions. I have one of those 3 Gypsy Queens. I didn't have to put up the high dollars the other 2 went for, but the downside is mine had a cracked and chip damaged wax cylinder. I provided that cylinder to a professional audio conservation expert in the US, who performed a miracle and after using several different needle/reproducers was able to extract and digitally clean up audio that is close to original quality.

Next I plan to have Vulcan records in England create a wax master, metal mold, and reproduce durable plastic molded cylinders for it. Interestingly enough, they have done that before for fortune teller use (the 6" type). I think they may be the only company in the world that does this with a metal mold process like original mass produced cylinders used.

Gypsy Queen cylinders used to be offered in trade publications (attached photo) but I have been unable to find one of those. It will take months to finish all this, but then I plan to get it all working and make a U-tube video including sound.

[moonriver]

Very interesting stuff. I like your machine better than DuWayne's, I think your figure is better.
I'm with you on the recreated opinion.
I didn't get the chance to look inside his as there was so much fantastic stuff to look at and he was a warm and generous host with his time.
Looking forward to seeing your finished article and video.

[pennymachines]

Remarkable machine. Clearly no attempt was made to move the lips and, judging by the mechanism, the figure has no animation at all?

[tim575]

The figure is animated but that is limited to the head nodding up and down, and the arm moving side to side. There is a single steel rod from the mechanics in the very bottom going to the top which moves up and down for the head, and the arm has linkages driven by that same rod. Similar to other card dispensing fortune tellers in the early 1900s except this one does not have the simulated breathing that many had, and instead of wax the head is some type of molded composite material.

[pennymachines]

That's interesting - thanks. Looking forward to the video.

[tim575]

So while waiting for my new cylinders from Vulcan, I did some more research on the 3 Gypsy Queen sold at auction in the last 30 years.
The first was in the late Dr. Smith collection sold in Sotheby's 1994 auction. The catalog for that auction included an intro by Gary Taplin who restored many of the machines for Dr. Smith and noted this verbal fortune teller was one of his favorites. He is retired but still around. I talked with him recently and he noted the mechanics and figure in it were original not reproductions and it also had 3 fortunes on the cylinder same as my machine. He also gave me a lead on where he had seen a picture of a second one at that time which allowed me to find a prior collection with my machine in it. The one from the Smith collection was resold in a Julia/Morphy auction in 2013. History I have of it ends there.

Then a few months later in a 2013 VCA auction another one came up that I acquired. I have traced it to a collection offered for sale in 2007 by Jim Grimwade which included some impressive, extremely rare machines. The photos of them are still on Flickr including the one I now own.

Then a 3rd one came up in Morphy 2021. This one had been in the collection of the late DuWayne Bakke. I have been in contact with the new owner to exchange info.
Photos of the collection Jim was selling: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rare_penn ... 7603615697

[moonriver]

Interesting background investigation!

[tim575]

I have not published some of the background material when it was only received from another collector or the names of current owners. But when I find info online in the public domain I have been posting items that seem important. This machine was advertised in "The Billboard" Vol XIX No.48 p39 11/30/1907. And one original flyer for it was in the June 30, 2021 Ashcroft and More auction as part of lot 32. Here is the link to that flyer pictured below: https://www.ashcroftandmoore.com/auctio ... 7E44A2A9F5

[moonriver]

Great flyer, not seen that before. Where do you think the 'Esmerelda' name link came from?

[tim575]

Since you asked, here is the 'long' answer... The first auction listing of one in Sotheby's catalog described it as "Talking Gypsy Fortune Teller". Interesting to also note that description said the figure had a composition head, which is true of mine as well, which surprised me it was not wax like other fortune tellers. But when it was resold 20+ years later by Julia Auctions (now Morphy) the description was "Esmeralda" Fortune Teller with Rare original Edison cylinders, and noted it was purchased in that Sotheby's auction. The one I purchased at VCA auction then had a description of, "Esmeralda" Type Fortune Teller Machine w/ Edison Cylinder Player, A very old, rare machine of unknown manufacturer, In working condition. The one Morphy sold in 2021 also described it as, EXTREMELY RARE ESMERALDA FORTUNE TELLER. and in description noted, This extremely rare fortune teller, often referred to as "Esmeralda", has a unique feature in that she speaks your fortune, and does not deliver a card like most fortune teller machines. It is of unknown manufacture and this example has a fortune teller mannequin dressed in period clothing with wax head.

I suspect the wax head description will be found to be incorrect if these all had composition heads. Given the Morphy connection with Julia and VCA, I expect the descriptions were simply copied for these similar looking machines. Also, I suspect the auction houses had little to go on other than that original Sotheby's description. That flyer didn't seem to be found by Google until recent years. However, there were advertisements listing the 'Gypsy Queen' that could be found with deep searches, all the way back to 1906 Talking-Machine-1906-05 (at worldradiohistory.com). None of the arcade books I have or Google finds make any reference to this tent shaped verbal fortune teller. They only show the ones made by Mills. Most famous of course is the Montanna one, as Copperfield tried to buy it, and which has replicas made (dual 6" cyln. players). Mills also made one in 1910 called 'Sibille the Queen of Hearts'. It had a cylinder player but may have also dispensed cards, so I don't know if the cylinder had actual fortunes on it or other background sound. Only reference to it I can find is a color photograph in the Rubin Drop Coin Here book p79, so at least one of those must have survived as well.