Ron Fuller, 1936-2017, Laying Puffin, 1991, wood, spring, inscribed beneath wings Ron Fuller...

Ron Fuller, 1936-2017, Laying Puffin, 1991, wood, spring, inscribed beneath wings Ron Fuller Autoymation and Made in England, approx. 22.3cm high, 14cm wide, 19.5cm deep; together with six other pieces by the same artist, comprising: Dancing Sailor (London), card, wood, tape, glass, sand, inscribed Ron Fuller Automation, Laxfield, England, approx. 17.5cm high, 14.8cm wide, 8.9cm deep; High Kicker, wood, cord, inscribed ARFT Laxfield England and Can Can, approx. 24cm long; Lazy Tong, painted wood, card, approx. 30cm high extended; Bavarian Ducks, painted wood, approx. 23.5cm long; Bavarian Shelducks, painted softwood, approx. 23.5cm long; and Ship and submarine, painted wood, wood, springs, submarine approx. 20cm wide, ship approx. 27cm wide (7)

Sir Nicholas Goodison noted:

Laying Puffing: Pressing down on the puffin's back causes her to raise her wings, open her beak and lay an egg, which is improbably spherical and is apt to roll away as you press down four more times for further eggs.

Dancing Sailor: This glass fronted box is a gravity toy. Inverting the box causes the sand to fall to the top. Making the box upright again causes the sand to fall and to turn the pivot on which the sailor is mounted, and the sailor dances a jig.

High Kicker: Ron Fullers adaptation of the swinging weight operating a circle of feeding chickens has become a trio of high-kicking Can-can dancers, complete with saucy garters.

Ship and Submarine: This is Ron Fullers version of a pre-WW2 toy. The ship painted 482, the submarine SUB-1. The submarine fires its red torpedoes one at a time aiming at the peg in the side of the ships hull. The torpedo is loaded from the bows of the submarine, pushing out the firing lever at the stern. If the torpedo hits the peg, it pushes a retaining pin inward and releases a lever powered by another powerful spring inside the ship, which explodes, sending the deck, the superstructure, the gun turrets and the funnels all over the place, a very satisfactory outcome for children who enjoy a good destruction. The torpedo spring is powerful, and the range given in Fullers description is about 13 or 4m on a smooth floor, but who can hit the yellow button in the ships hull at that range? It has to be said that the ship could have been designed with a better standard of safety. The best that its crew can hope for is bad aiming.

Provenance:

Laying Puffin: Purchased, Ron Fuller, May 1991.

Dancing Sailor: Purchased, Ron Fuller, December 1991.

High Kicker, Purchased, Kristin Baybars, London, January 1993. Exhibited, A Collectors Collection, Strawberry Hill, June-November 2014.

Ship and Submarine: Purchased, Ron Fuller December 1987.

Note: Ron Fuller, 1936-2017, studied at art schools in Plymouth and Falmouth before studying Art & Theatre Design at the Royal College of Art.After a career in teaching, he began to make wood toys for a living in 1972. His highly sought-after work has been exhibited around the world.

Roseberys do not guarantee the working order of any automata or toy.