A good antique gilt bronze singing bird box, by Flajoulot,

Circa 1910,

Going barrel movement,

Typical Flajoulet, clever design...

When wound and start/stop button slid to the right, the bird appears through finely pierced and tooled gilt grille, then moves bone beak, wings and body from side-to-side to continuous synchronised birdsong.

The bird with banded feathered plumage in black, yellow, red and dark blue, subtle irredescent highlights in green and orange, double laurel leaf border and highly polished lid interior for full bird reflection, the top and sides with stylised snowdrop and vine tooled decoration on matt ground, double indent profile corners with plain returns, underside with multiple wave line ground, central oval cartouche, hidden key compartment at rear.

3.3/4in. wide, 2.1/2in. deep, 1.1/2in. high - (9.5 x 6.4 x 3.8cm)

Point of interest -

Flajoulet boxes have the largest area of space within the hidden key compartment over other makes.  Some have said this compartment was for keeping snuff, although this is not the case.  Interestly, the only thing they did not make were their own key designs for their boxes - instead choosing the German bird pattern, or more likely, the shaped thumb grip design in polished steel.