Singing Bird Pistols

Following a feverish bidding war between two high-end collectors, the above pair of singing bird pistols recently sold at a Christie's auction for the mind-numbing price of $5.8 million. This is apparently the only matched set of these odd antiquities still known to exist, and very few were ever made to begin with.

The craftmanship of these 200+ year old works of art is incredible. Rather than firing bullets, the guns "shoot" a miniature singing bird. I can almost see why someone might be inspired to pay the price of a large mansion with a garage full of Ferraris for these "singing bird pistols". CLICK HERE for an amazing video about these curiosities, their history and operation.