M.Goldstein

A rare late 19th Century German animated clockwork picture of a mother monkey scrubbing her child while his sibling hides behind the curtain. Original glass and moulded gilt frame, in working order.

“Am I satyr or man?

Pray tell me who can

And settle my place in the scale.

A man in ape’s shape,An anthropoid ape,

Or monkey deprived of his tail?”

The obsession with rare hats continues at M.Goldstein…

This 19th Century Billingsgate Fish Market porter’s hat is our most recent acquisition. Wood, leather and hobnail in construction, it is certainly a heavy hat. The flat top was so that cases of fish could be carried on top of the head and the wide brim directed fish guts away from the face. An interesting and rare artefact. Despite the fact of it’s Victorian London history, in look and construction it has the appearance of primitive headwear.

Hard hats must be worn.

Meet our new friend. He’s a Victorian preserved monkey dressed in a pink silk jacket. A much loved former show monkey. There was a fascination with monkeys, especially dressed as humans at this point in history (Monkeyana). This was post Darwin’s theory of evolution and it was a popular topic of debate as to our relationship to the primate. Monkey nuts!