Agate and Multi-gemstone Music Box-"Hamster with Mice with Harvest Cart"-Playing "Happy Birthday to You" By Manfred Wild, Idar-Oberstein, Germany. Photo courtesy Bonhams.

A whimsical creation depicting a hamster as coachman with a team of four mice pulling the cart of harvest fruit. The coachman and mice are carved of translucent Brazilian brown agate, the raspberries are carved from rhodochrosite, the walnuts and the cart of jasper. The lavish fittings, reins and accessories as well as the tails of the mice are 18K yellow gold. This is a creation of a master designer with a unique imagination and vision like no other: the wind-up mechanism playing the well-known tune "Happy Birthday to You". Length 16in. Sold for US$ 50,000 (€36,195)

Bonhams. GEMS, MINERALS & LAPIDARY WORKS OF ART. Los Angeles. 10 Dec 2013 - www.bonhams.com