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La Boule Mystérieuse
Fernand MartinVertical spiral track w/ acrobat inside a ball
- Model
- 204
- Type
- Tracks / Platform Base
- Topic
- Circus & Clowns
- Mechanism
- Clockwork
- Movement
- Pulling the string, the ball closes and rolls down the spiral, and then it ascends back to the top and opens
- Materials
- Tin
- Dimensions (LxWxH cm)
- 11x11x36
- Condition
- Very Good
- Manufactured
- 1906 – 1912
Research notes
The design was inspired by an act performed by acrobat Léon LeRoche at the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1902, where he scaled a 3.6 meter high spiral inside a rolling metal ball. French inventor M. Célestin Gasselin patented the design on December 6, 1905. Fernand Martin acquired the patent and began production in 1906. The toy was registered in Germany under patent number D.R.G.M. 269277.
