HOWTO Make a Victorian flea chariot

Cory Doctorow 10:04 pm Sat Jan 10, 2009

Uncle Wilco sez, "Andy from the wonderful Workshop Shed has made a Victorian flea chariot in his shed!"

The mounting is an old victorian era french coin about the size of a 2p, the chariot is secured with a small magnet and a tiny piece of steel glued below the axle (brass is not magnetic). I picked up the glass display case on Ebay for a bargain. A new groove was turned in the base so that the dome can be removed and replaced. The carry case in the background is some fake books made from wood which I got from a junk shop many years ago…

Flea Circuses evolved out of the skills of watch makers and jewellers and were made famous in the 1830s by L.Bertolotto who turned the bias from the construction skills to the performance. They remained popular until the 1960s and many peoples grandparents have seen one. I've been researching this topic for about 4 years now and regularly make new discoveries which I publish along with other flea news on the flea circus research library blog.

Victorian Flea Circus Chariot

(Thanks, Wilco!)

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