Lot 20                  1920s Tin Litho Japanese Ratchet
This now-silent ratchet was produced in Japan during the late 1920s. The imagery is eccentric - a common characteristic of tin items produced in Japan at this time. The bird-like devil wields a “pitchfork,” the end of which looks more like something you’d leave behind at Red Lobster. The black pigeon, emaciated crow and the zebra-like cat round out the weirdness. In terms of the noisemaking apparatus, it appears that everything is there to make sound, but the mechanism is loose. Someone with more than a thimbleful of mechanical aptitude could surely make this sound again. Alas, I am not that person. The ratchet has a wood handle and measures ~4” high. Any glares present are due to photographic lighting. 

RSIN: 2/Condition: 7

Opening Price: $15