This matching pair of pistols will appeal to those who prefer their firearms golden, bejeweled and musical. These amazing automatons are about two hundred years old, exceedingly rare and were expected to fetch $3 – $5 million for the pair at Christie’s Hong Kong Important Watches sale today.

“To be clear, this is not a watch or clock,” says Aurel Bacs, Christie’s international head of watches. “These are automatons.” A fascination with the mechanics of human and animal movement, which began in the Renaissance, developed in the 19th century into a movement “to recreate those mechanics ourselves,” he says. These pistols, which date back to roughly 1820, are attributed to the Rochat brothers, Swiss artisans who pioneered the art of mechanical singing birds.

Link – Via Everyday No Days Off

They look like art to me, Casper.