Up for Auction: Solid Gold Skeleton

Doesn’t that just make your heart sing? On April 29, Sotheby’s will be auctioning off “The Rouchomovsky Skeleton.” According to the catalog, this fully articulated gold skeleton is c. 1900 and

in a velvet-lined coffin chased around on each side with three panels showing the course of life, one end with attributes of the arts, the other with attributes of war, the removable cover with the journey in the footsteps of the Angel of Death, surrounded by the faces of infants alternately laughing and crying.
Skeleton signed in Cyrillic, on the right splint-bone: Mozyr [18]92 Odessa [18]96 and on the left splint-bone Rouchomovsky;
Sarcophagus signed on lid: Israel Rouchomovsky and in Cyrillic on base Israel Rouchomovsky Odessa 1901.
length of skeleton 3 1/2 in., length of coffin 4 3/8 in.

I can’t afford the estimated sales price, but my birthday was just last month and I’d be more than happy to have it as a belated present.