Meet Molly, the $15,000 Mechanical Bird at the Center of Kelly Clarkson’s Viral Store Dispute

A brief shopping trip by Kelly Clarkson has turned a handcrafted wooden bird into one of the internet’s most talked-about collectibles.

On October 10, 2026, Clarkson said she visited Brooklyn curiosity shop Art of Play and felt an employee treated her as though she could not afford an item she wanted. The disagreement centered on Molly, a hand-cranked singing and dancing bird automaton by Seattle artist Bliss Kolb. Clarkson said a nearby tag showed a $15,000 price, while Art of Play maintained that Molly herself was permanently attached to the wall and not for sale; according to the shop, the figure referred to a nearly identical bird Kolb was willing to sell. Silent security footage later confirmed Clarkson’s short visit and interaction with staff, but because it contains no audio, it cannot establish exactly what was said.

Beyond the celebrity dispute, Molly is an unusually intricate piece of mechanical art. Kolb’s “Singing Bird on Wall” uses a wooden worm gear, star gear and nine cams to control seven movements through a system of levers and cables. Leather bellows push air through a brass whistle to create the bird’s song, while the sculpture itself is made from materials including maple, basswood, brass, steel and glass. Kolb’s current website lists his individually made crank-operated automata in roughly the $4,000 to $12,000 range, while reporting around the Clarkson controversy says a near-twin of Molly was valued at $15,000. The attention has dramatically increased interest in Kolb’s work, with the artist reportedly receiving around 100 commission inquiries after the story went viral.

The strangest twist came after the dispute exploded online. Art of Play replaced Molly’s $15,000 reference with a new $15 million asking price, with co-owner Adam Rubin joking that it had been raised because of “popular demand.” He has also said he would now be willing to sell Molly at that amount, though there is no indication anyone has agreed to pay it. The figure should therefore be understood as a tongue-in-cheek asking price born from the controversy—not an independent appraisal showing that Molly’s market value suddenly rose a thousandfold. For now, the bird remains at Art of Play, where it functions as a store mascot and has appeared as an opening act for the shop’s magic performances.

Would you pay thousands for a one-of-a-kind mechanical artwork—or would you rather just watch Molly perform?