Vaucanson duck automaton, believed destroyed in 1879.
One of a series of images marked images of Vaucanson's duck, received from Dresden, originally sent in 1899 and rediscovered in the 1930s in its archives by the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris.[1][2] The museum also has a "letter written by an Italian man to the museum's director in 1899, offering him not only the photos, but the machine as well."[2] The latter would indicate that either the images are not of Vaucanson's duck, or that Vaucanson's duck was not destroyed in 1879 as believed. The museum's director in 2002 did not believe the photos are of Vaucanson's duck, but two Vaucanson biographers (André Doyon and Lucien Liaigre) believe they are.[2] There was an 1800s reproduction by Johann-Bartholomé Rechsteiner from Switzerland; the track of that has also been lost, which adds some possible confusion.[3]