Volume 64, No. 2 March/April 2018

Mechanical Music Mechanical Music
Journal of the Musical Box Society International
Devoted to All Automatic Musical Instruments

Volume 64, No. 2 March/April 2018

496 First Street, Solvang CA ¥ Ron & Julie Palladino
Open seven days a week 10-6 ¥ 805-452-5700
www.renantiques.com ¥ info@renantiques.com
Above: Exceptional German organ
clock in monumental flame mahogany
case with arched top, a carved lyre
appliquŽ and 12Ó porcelain dial.
Four interchangeable cylinders play
eight tunes each on 99 wooden pipes.
A handpainted oil landscape scene
is featured on each side of the hood.
Complete and original, the cabinet
beautifully restored, the organ
movement in need of attention.
Measuring 114Ó high by 35Ó wide
by 17Ó deep, circa 1840. Price just
drastically reduced to $9,000.
We will arrange packing and safe
transport anywhere in the world.
RENAISSANCE ANTIQUE S
below Right: 15-1/2Ó Disc
Music Box by Polyphon,
by 22Ó wide
by 20Ó deep,
$5,900.
¥
¥
¥
¥
ANTIQUESANTIQUESCLOCK REPAIR
Above: RARe Longue Marche Cylinder Music
Box playing eight tunes for over one hour on
a winding. The 13Ó cylinder movement with
four spring barrels, five engraved bells and
mandoline attachment. Original tune sheet,
in rosewood case with mandoline inlays. 28Ó
wide by 11Ó high by 14-1/2Ó deep, $3,750.
Right And below: Polyphon Music Box Clock
playing a 15-1/2Ó disc in the base, in carved
oak case with weight-driven time and strike
movement that automatically activates the
music box on the hour or at will, 102Ó high
by 27Ó wide by 13-1/2Ó deep, $17,500.

Editor/Publisher

Russell Kasselman
(253) 228-1634
editor@mbsi.org

MBSI Editorial Office:

Iron Dog Media
130 Coral Court
Pismo Beach, CA 93449
editor@mbsi.org

Publications Chair

Bob Caletti

All manuscripts will be subject to editorial
review. Articles submitted for publication may
be edited or rejected at the discretion of the
Publications Committee and the Editorial
Staff. The article will not be published with
significant changes without the authorÕs
approval. All articles are considered to be the
authorÕs personal opinion. The author may be
asked to substantiate his/her statements.

Mechanical Music (ISSN 1045-795X) is published by
the Musical Box Society International, 130 Coral Court,
Pismo Beach, CA 93449 six times per year. A Directory
of Members, Museums and Dealers is published
biennially. Domestic subscription rate, $60. Periodicals
postage paid at San Luis Obispo, CA and additional
mailing offices.

Copyright 2018. The Musical Box Society International,
all rights reserved. Mechanical Music
cannot be copied, reproduced or transmitted in
whole or in part in any form whatsoever without
written consent of the Editor and the Executive
Committee.

MEMBERS: SEND ADDRESS CORRECTIONS TO:
MBSI, PO Box 10196,
Springfield, MO 65808-0196
Or, make corrections on the website at www.mbsi.org.

POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO

MBSI, PO Box 10196,
Springfield, MO 65808-0196

Mechanical Music

Journal of the Musical Box Society International

Devoted to All Automatic Musical Instruments

Volume 64, No. 2
March/April 2018

MBSI NEWS

5 PresidentÕs Message
8 Website Report
9 EditorÕs Notes

10 Nickel Notes by Matt
Jaro

51 In Memoriam

CHAPTER
REPORTS

32 Southeast
37 Snowbelt
40 Southern California
43 Northwest International
46 National Capital
49 Mid-America

Each One
Reach One
New Member
On the Cover
The inside of a Hupfeld automatic
piano under construction in the
Hupfeld factory circa 1927-28. For
more, see Page 29.
16 – Making 300

How the 2017 Annual Meeting table
favor came to be.

March/April 2018 MECHANICAL MUSIC 3

The World of Mechanical Music The World of Mechanical Music
Copy this page, and give it to a potential new member. Spread the word about MBSI.

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

Last name First Name Initial
Check or Money Order Payable to: MBSI Treasurer (US Funds Only)
Mail to: New Member Registration – MBSI
PO Box 10196
Springfield, MO 65808-0196
Last Name First Name Initial
Visa/MasterCard
Address
Exp. Date CCV
City
Signature
State / Zip Membership Dues
US members (per household)……………………………………….$60
Postal Code / Country
Phone
Canada…………………………………………………………………………$70
Other International ………………………………………………………$75
(Add $20 for International air mail.)
Join online: www.mbsi.org/join-mbsi
Fax
E-mail
Sponsor (optional)
Member Benefits
Six magazines annually Ñ Mechanical Music plus the
Directory of Members, Museums, and Dealers (published
every two years). Membership also entitles you to participate
in the Annual Meeting and to join regional chapters.
New members receive a welcome letter, a Goods & Supplies
Order Form, Directory of Members, Museums, and
Dealers, and a list of the regional chapters.

A
A
fascinating hobby! It combines all the appeals of
art, history, craftsmanship, and music all into one.
Automatic music doesnÕt just sit there; it is ever
willing to perform for those who care to hear it. Play an
automatic music machine in a room full of people and all
else will stop as the machine enraptures the audience with
the sparkling melodies of yesteryear!

A ÒMusic BoxÓ is any sort of automatic music instrument
that plays music via the plucking of teeth on a tuned steel
comb through various mechanisms; musical automata;
orchestrions; player and reproducing pianos and organs;
phonographs; and self-playing stringed, wind, and percussion
instruments of any kind.

The Musical Box Society International, chartered by the
New York State Board of Regents, is a nonprofit society
dedicated to the enjoyment, study, and preservation of
automatic musical instruments. Founded in 1949, it now
has members around the world, and supports various

educational projects.

Regional chapters and an Annual Meeting held each year
in different cities within the United States enable members
to visit collections, exchange ideas, and attend educational
workshops.

Members receive the scholarly journal, Mechanical
Music, which also contains advertising space for members
who wish to buy, sell, and restore mechanical musical
instruments and related items; the Directory of Members,
Museums, and Dealers.

The only requirements for membership are an interest in
automatic music machines and the desire to share information
about them. And youÕll take pride in knowing you
are contributing to the preservation of these marvelous
examples of bygone craftsmanship.

More Information:

Phone/Fax: (417) 886-8839

Email: jbeeman.mbsi@att.net

4 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

By Clay Witt

MBSI President

Arthur W. J. G. Ord-Hume, noted
British author of several fine books
on musical boxes, came up with two
insightful Laws of Collecting:

1. Space will expand to accommodate
an infinite number of
possessions, regardless of their
size.
2. Shortage of finance, however
dire, will never prevent the
acquisition of a desired object,
however improbable its cost.
I was thinking about these principles
as I began to write this edition of
the PresidentÕs Message for reasons
that will soon become apparent.

I am all too familiar with Rule 1. If
you visit my retirement condominium
you will know as soon as you enter
that my collecting genes are alive and
functioning all too efficiently. There
are antique music boxes, phonographs,
clocks, or radios occupying
just about every available space. I
have vague memories of how pleasant
my dining room table appeared before
it became just another location for
music boxes and phonographs. Most
of the several doors leading out onto
my large balcony are now blocked by
mechanical music machines of one
sort or another. Finding a space for yet
another has become more and more
challenging.

This takes us to my most recent
adventure. I have a number of disc
music boxes I enjoy, but they all play
discs of 15. inches or less. I have long
admired the sound of boxes taking
larger discs. Owning one of them
is on my bucket list. So, there I was
minding my own business in December
when what to my wondering
eyes did appear? No, not a miniature
sleigh and eight tiny reindeer, rather
it was a handsome circa 1896 Regina
Orchestral Model 5 coin-operated box
playing 27-inch discs on large double

combs. It seemed to call my name
and, despite its shady past hustling
nickels in a saloon in the west and the
fact it was missing its upper gallery,
it was love at first sight. Never mind
that the Model 5 is one of the tallest
regular music boxes Regina made (so
says The Encyclopedia of Disc Music
Boxes), and its width is not exactly
petite. I just knew that there had to

Clay Witt with his newest, door-blocking Regina Orchestral Model 5.

be some way to situate it in my living
room. The accompanying photograph
shows there was. Perhaps, though,
I best be thinking of how to unblock
some doors leading out to the balcony,
because if this keeps up I may find
myself living out there in the weather
when the interior is entirely filed with
machines and their accouterments.

As to the application of Rule 2, that

is not a matter to be discussed in
polite company. For would be buyers
I will say that it is an excellent time to
be building or improving your collection.
Prices have fallen dramatically
in the last decade. In many cases,
dreamed-of costly machines are now
within reach and the supply seems
to be good. This is not good news
for sellers, but it will, I think, help to
foster interest in mechanical music
among upcoming generations as the
hobby becomes more affordable. Let
those younger people you know with
an interest in mechanical music know
that now is a good time to begin a
collection.

On another topic, not long after
you receive this issue of Mechanical
Music your MBSI officers, trustees,
and some of our committee chairs
will be meeting in Phoenix, AZ, for the
2018 mid-year trusteesÕ meeting to go
about getting the SocietyÕs corporate
business matters attended to. The
meeting will be conducted jointly with

a meeting of the Southern California
chapter. The trustees will meet at the
Musical Instruments Museum (MIM)
in Phoenix the day before the chapter
meeting starts and post meeting
events will include an opportunity to
see a concert at the MIM and get a
behind the scenes tour of the MIM. As
you may know, MBSI was one of the
MIMÕs founding members.

Our thanks to the museum and to
Robin Biggins, chair of the Southern
California Chapter, and all his fellow
chapter members for putting this all
together. WonÕt you please also take
the time to thank our trustees and
officers for their dedication to getting
MBSIÕs work done when you have the
chance. They all work without compensation
and pay out of their own
pocket the not so insignificant costs
of attending trustee meetings around
the country.

Executive Committee Business

There are two Executive Committee

actions to report in this issue. A few
years ago, MBSI had a major exhibit
at the Lockwood Matthews Mansion
Museum in Norwalk, CT. The Society
still had some items left in the museum
after the exhibit closed. Our Museum
Committee concentrated on retrieving
these items before the museum closed
for the winter. The last one to be
recovered was a Weber reproducing
grand piano. Since there was no room
for the piano at American Treasure
Tour in Valley Forge, PA, where
most of our instruments are stored,
member Glenn Crater agreed to store
the piano at his home. The Executive
Committee approved $1,050 to pay for
the moving.

In January, the Executive Committee
approved my appointment of
Matt Jaro to fill a mid-term Meetings
Committee vacancy created when
Carol Beck stepped down. Thank you
to Matt for agreeing to serve and to
Carol for years of faithful service on
the committee.

SHOP THE MBSI MART ONLINE

The Music Box Makers, The History of the Music Box in Ste. Croix

Jean-Claude PiguetÕs compilation of two separate works chronicles the development of the musical
box industry in the Saint-Croix region of Switzerland. Beginning in the early 1800s before mass
communication and electricity were common and continuing through to the age of assembly lines,
this fascinating story describes the erratic fortunes of the people who were involved, their companies,
and the social and economic climate they endured. An outstanding and important work,
originally in French, now in English.
Original Price: $77.50

MBSI Pins

SPECIAL: $10 PPD U.S.A.

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A pictorial and editorial walk through 50 years of

and will encourage

MBSI. This is a 240 page hardcover treasure of over

conversation about

800 photos and 58,000 words. It is a must for every

mechanical music.

member, new and old, of MBSI.
Original Price: $35.00 $5 PPD U.S.A.

SPECIAL: $10 PPD U.S.A.

Order Online at www.mbsi.org/mart.php

Or send your order to: Administrator, P.O. Box 10196, Springfield, MO 65808-0196

All prices here include U.S. Media Mail postage. Make checks payable to MBSI, or Musical Box Society International
Additional shipping charges for 1st class U.S. or airmail foreign shipments are shown on the checkout page.
For other shipping options or quantity pricing, please email info2008@mbsi.org.
Prices subject to change.

6 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

MBSI MEMBERSHIP DRIVE
EACH ONE/REACH ONE NEW MEMBER

MBSI is pleased to offer new members a $15 discount off their rst year of membership dues. You
are considered a new member if you have not been a member in the past three years. This discount
is also available on our website, www.mbsi.org.

Current MBSI members who sponsor a new member will receive a $5 discount off their next yearÕs
MBSI membership renewal for each sponsorship. Attach a copy of the discount voucher below to a
copy of the membership application form from Page 4 of this issue of Mechanical Music. Place your
name as ÒsponsorÓ on the application form.

Please make copies of these forms as needed and send the completed forms with checks to the MBSI
administrator at the address listed below.

.
.
..
¨.
(INTERNATIONAL)
ORGANIZED IN 1949
DEVOTED TO ALL MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
.
.
..
¨.
(INTERNATIONAL)
ORGANIZED IN 1949
DEVOTED TO ALL MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Musical Box Society International
P.O. Box 10196
Springeld, MO 65808-0196
Phone/Fax: (417) 886-8839
Musical Box Society International
P.O. Box 10196
Springeld, MO 65808-0196
Phone/Fax: (417) 886-8839
Dues Voucher Ð$15
New U.S. members may join MBSI for one year at $45 (instead
of $60); Canadians $55 (instead of $70; and, other International
members at $60 (instead of $75). This certicate must accom-
pany payment and a copy of the completed membership
application from page 4 of this issue of Mechanical Music.
New Member Name(s):
Expires: 01/01/2019
Authorized by MBSI Administrator
NEW MEMBER
GIFT CERTIFICATE
New members are those who have never been members
of MBSI or those who have not been members for three
years prior to submission of this voucher.
New members are those who have never
been members of MBSI or those who
have not been members for three years
prior to submission of this certicate.
SPECIAL OFFER: Purchase one or more rst-year MBSI gift
memberships at $45 each U.S., $55 Canadian, or $60 other International
and you will receive $5 off your next year’s MBSI membership
renewal for each ÒNew MemberÓ gift.
Gift Membership Name
Address, City, State, ZIP
Phone Email
Sponsor

Please mail this form together with your check made payable to ÒMBSIÓ to the MBSI Administrator at the address listed
above. Memberships are $45 for U.S. residents, $55 for Canadian residents, and $60 for International residents.

Website News Report Website News Report
By Rick Swaney

Website Subcommittee Chair

The MBSI website (mbsi.org)
presents a wealth of information
to anyone interested in mechanical
music. This is especially true for Society
members, who have access to the
members-only sections. Something
the website doesnÕt provide is a means
for members to easily share their own
information and have discussions.

The MBSI Facebook page (face-
book.com/mbsi.org) was created
with member participation as one of
the goals. While ItÕs true that anyone
can post information to this page,
the posts are not always very visible.
Facebook pages for organizations are
designed to highlight the posts from
page administrators while posts from
members and visitors are smaller and
placed off to the side.

ThatÕs why IÕve created an MBSI
Facebook group: MBSI Forum (facebook.
com/groups/mbsiforum). A
Facebook group represents the members
more so than the organization.
Anyone can post to a group and all the
posts are displayed front and center.
My hope is that this will encourage
more members to participate both as
viewers and posters.

This forum is open to anyone with
a Facebook account, not just MBSI
members. Anyone can view the posts,
but to create a post in the forum you
must first join the group. This is easy
to do; just click on the Ò+Join GroupÓ
button below the image at the top of
the page. You will become a member
as soon as the group administrator
receives and processes your request.
That usually takes less than a day.

If you havenÕt joined Facebook,
thatÕs easy to do as well. There are any
number of web articles and videos
that explain the steps. Just do a search
using the phrase ÒHow to join Face-
bookÓ. It takes less than five minutes
to create an account.

To encourage you to visit the forum,
I have posted an MBSI quiz on it.

Complete the Facebook MBSI quiz to be entered in a drawing where you could win
these as a prize.

The quiz has 10 questions and all the
answers can be found somewhere on
the MBSI website. The quiz is only for
MBSI members because some of the
answers are in members-only sections
of the website. You can take the quiz
just for fun or the challenge, but you
also have an opportunity to win a prize.

If you email your answers to quiz@
mbsi.org by April 1, you will be entered
into a drawing for a prize. The prize
is the DVD Marvels of Mechanical
Music, plus the book, The Music Box
Makers: The History of Music Box in
Sainte-Croix, both published by MBSI.
The DVD is a documentary on the
history, preservation, and restoration
of mechanical music. On April 1 the

winner will be randomly selected from
those entries with the most correct
answers. Then the winnerÕs name and
the correct answers will be posted to
the forum. The winner will be notified
by email to arrange the prize delivery.

This forum can become a real value
to our group. Of course, itÕs up all up to
you. The forum wonÕt become an interesting
place until people start posting.
So please consider posting something
of interest: a photo or video of one
your instruments, something from
your chapter meeting, information
about an upcoming musical event, or
even a question to other members.
LetÕs see if we can make this a place
that youÕll want to visit frequently.

8 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

EditorÕs Notes EditorÕs Notes
By Russell Kasselman

MBSI Editor/Publisher

This issue was quite fun for me to
put together as we had some chapters
that havenÕt written in a while contribute
new reports. I got to catch up on
all the great events going on around
the country and now you will, as well.

The Snowbelt and Mid-America
chapters both checked in, one with
a year-in-review article and the other
with a description of their holiday
activities. It was good to see how
active these chapters have been and
I look forward to seeing more reports
from them in the coming issues. We
also have reports from the Southeast,
National Capital, Southern California,
and Northwest International chapters
for a total of six chapters giving
updates on activities where members
are getting together to socialize, see
great collections and share their love
of mechanical music. It almost makes
me wish I had a teleportation device to
get me around the country so I could

attend them all. For now, however, IÕll
just be grateful to see that our local
chapters are thriving.

I would encourage you to join your
local chapter if you havenÕt already so
you can get out there and meet others
like yourself. Check the calendar on
Page 65 for a list of upcoming events.

You also might want to start making
plans to travel to Detroit, MI, this fall
for what looks to be a fantastic experience
at the MBSI Annual Meeting.
Hosted this year by the Mid-America
Chapter, collection tours will include
the Stahl auto and mechanical music
museum, Henk and Irene NordermeerÕs
home, and Bronson Musikalle.
Organizers are hard at work nailing
down all the details, so check back
often for updates on how to make
your reservations for this great event.

As always, we continue to look for
new articles on restoration basics,
your latest treasure hunt, or items of
historical interest. DonÕt be shy! Send
in your stuff and become a published
author.

MAILING ADDRESS
MBSI Editorial/Advertising
130 Coral Court
Pismo Beach, CA 93449
EMAIL ADDRESS
editor@mbsi.org
PHONE
(253) 228-1634

Welcome new members!
Rod Starns & Chet Breitwieser James KieslerDecember 2017
Belleville, IL Lewiston, ID
Michael Cernak Sponsor, Steve Unland Owen Christiansen
Oak Lawn, IL Linda Alster Nashua, NH
Sponsor, Jerry Long The Villages, FL Steve & Cynthia KramerRay Zapata Greeley, CO
Haines City, FL January 2018 Sponsor, Ed Kraus
Harry Gray Cathy Parham & Verba Guard Lloyd BurtonEl Sobrante, CA St. Augustine, FLEl Monte, CAMike & Pam Bryan William & Jean EngelSponsor, Wayne Finger Aurora, ON Lena, IlJames Arnold Albert Jacquet Jay AndersonTitusville, FLMasnuy Saint Jean, Hainaut, Mill Creek, UT Robert DeyoungBelgium Sponsor, Lloyd Osmundson Joliet, ILRichard Bair John HoldenSponsor, Merritt Bethig Orlando, FL Chicago, ILSponsor, Mary Ellen Myers

Have a suggestion?

Send it in via email to editor@mbsi.org or drop us a note to the MBSI Editorial Offices at 130 Coral Court, Pismo Beach, CA 93449.

March/April 2018 MECHANICAL MUSIC 9

Nickel Notes

By Matthew Jaro

This article presents the life and
work of H. Barton Off, Jr. Bart was
an excellent restorer and collector
of automatic musical instruments
specializing in nickelodeons. He had
a workshop and display area where
machines he had restored could be
heard and seen. His work was impeccable.
He held yearly Cinco de Mayo
parties where friends would spend the
day talking and listening to music.

Sadly, Bart passed away on Oct. 17,
2016. His collection is preserved by
David Ramey, Jr. who has established
a small museum in Marysville, OH, to
display the collection. Visits can be
arranged by appointment.

I remember wandering into rural
northeast Pennsylvania, where after
traveling along miles of bucolic
lanes we came to BartÕs property. We
entered an ordinary building to find a
fabulous collection of nickelodeons
and a great collection of rolls Ð just
the sort of things I like.

I have always maintained that it is
vital to display a collection so that
visitors can really enjoy the instruments
and appreciate the setting.
This was certainly the case with Bart.
I have also noted that there are few
collectors that REALLY like the music,
change rolls often and buy new rolls
frequently. This was also the case with
Bart. I think it is important to buy
rolls, because if there are no customers
then the roll recutters will be out
of business and the hobby will lose an
important resource. The rolls are also
inexpensive compared to the value of
the machines.

Beginnings

Every time I interview a collector I

H. Barton Off, Jr.
ask how they got started in mechanical
music. This is an important
question because it gives us insight
into how we might attract younger
members to our organization. Bart
got his first exposure to nickelodeons
when he was about 7 years old.
About three blocks from his house in
Philadelphia, PA, was a Dolly Madison
Ice Cream Parlor. In the summertime
when strawberries and peaches were
in season, Bart and his dad would
walk up to the ice cream parlor after
dinner and bring home a quart of ice
cream in a container. But while they
were there Ð guess what? Ð there was
a nickelodeon. Bart doesnÕt remember
exactly who the maker or what model
the machine was. He thinks it might
have been either a Cremona G or
a Seeburg F. What he remembered
clearly is that it was a tall piano with
pipes and his dad would always give
Bart a nickel to play a tune on that
nickelodeon. Then they had to run

like hell to get home before the ice
cream melted. I suggested they should
have heard the nickelodeon BEFORE
buying the ice cream. They did this
for about three years but then the ice
cream parlor closed and there was no
more nickelodeon.

BartÕs father and mother were both
involved in the antique business well
before Bart was born and continuing
into the early 1970s. Bart loved it when
his mom went down to the Salvation
Army looking for antiques, because
they had rows of player pianos on
display. This was the early 1950s. Bart
loved to go and tinker with machines.
He would find one that would play a
little bit and he loved to listen to it.
Later, on occasion, he would see one
and get excited all over again, but he
didnÕt really know how to go about
obtaining one.

Finally, in 1970 Bart decided that
he wanted his own player piano. By
that time, he had a nice collection of
battery-operated table radios with
associated literature. These were all
pre-1930 radios. Bart was living in
New Jersey and there was a bi-weekly
publication called The Want-Ad Press.
An ad appeared that said, ÒYoung medical
student desires modest collection
of pre-1930 table radios. Bart thought:
ÒMaybe I could sell some radios off
and figure out how to get a player
piano.Ó He called the number and it
happened to be Dr. Paul Ciancia who
was a young medical student then. Dr.
Ciancia currently has his own quite
wonderful collection of nickelodeons
and orchestrions. Anyway, Bart talked
about the radios and Paul knew about
every model they discussed. They
couldnÕt agree upon a price because

10 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

H. Barton Off, Jr. showing off the front
of his restored Seeburg F that came
from Tim TragerÕs ÒHouse that Keeps on
Giving.Ó
Paul was a medical student and Bart
was an engineering student Ð so neither
of them had a lot of money. Paul
asked Bart why he was selling the
radios and Bart said that he wanted
to buy a player piano. Paul laughed
and Bart said ÒWhatÕs so funny?Ó Then
Paul said ÒI rebuild player pianos and
this is how IÕm paying my way through
medical school.Ó Bart said he probably
couldnÕt afford something restored
but would settle for a piano in clean,
unrestored condition. Paul said he
would look around, but the price
would probably be $500-$600 Ð and
that was the end of the conversation.

After a few days, Bart reflected on
this situation and thought, Òhis price is
high and my price is high Ð maybe we
could just trade.Ó The following week
Bart called Paul and Paul said: ÒBart,
IÕve been trying to get a hold of you Ð
why donÕt we trade?Ó So, they traded

Bart shows off the back of the Seeburg F and, appropriately, his back as well!

and this started a lifelong journey
into mechanical music for Bart. Bart
traded a few nice radios and got a nice
Aeolian foot-pumper.

The Player Piano Business

With the help of Player Piano

Headquarters in Boonton, NJ, and
Larry GivensÕ book on the player
piano, Bart was off and running (no
pun intended). The major problem,
however, was that Bart lived on
the second floor in a one-bedroom
apartment. There was no way to get

March/April 2018 MECHANICAL MUSIC 11

Nickelodeon Alley in BartÕs shop/piano room where both instruments and music rolls enjoyed equal prominence.

the piano upstairs. Bart had to take
his front door off to get the piano into
his little 5-foot-by-7-foot entrance hall.
ThatÕs where the player piano was
rebuilt!

Bart was the only tenant (out of
1,200 people in the complex) that
gave his landlord a Christmas gift (a
bottle of Scotch) every year. One day,
his landlord said ÒWhy donÕt you move
that piano upstairs?Ó

Bart said, ÒI canÕt do that.Ó

The landlord replied ÒI can do it.Ó

So, the landlord showed up with a
big front-end loader. They unbolted
the railing on the second-floor patio,
lowered the rail to the ground with
ropes, put the player piano in the
bucket of his loader, and brought the
piano up to the second floor, where
they pulled it off of the bucket and
into BartÕs room. They did this seven
times! Bart started rebuilding player
pianos to help pay his way through
college. The landlord loved that he
was doing this. He would come over

to BartÕs and listen to the pianos.

Bart graduated, got married and
moved into a house, and things
started blossoming. Player Piano
Headquarters provided Bart with an
introduction to nickelodeons. Teddy
Spangenberg and Carl Thomsen
owned the company. Lee Munsick and
Frank Himpsl wrote notes about Player
Piano Headquarters in the Mechanical
Music Digest (search under ÒBoon-
tonÓ). In addition, Bart knew about the
Player Piano Company in Wichita,KS,
(Durrell Armstrong) and the American
Piano Supply Company in Clifton, NJ.
American Piano Supply would sell primarily
to dealers, but if you went there
on Saturday before lunch you could
buy anything you wanted over-the-
counter. They closed and eventually
Schaff took over their business.

Through Carl Thomsen, Bart bought
his first nickelodeon, a Coinola C.
This was an A roll machine with nice
three-dimensional glass. It didnÕt have
a xylophone in it, so Bart built one!

The insides of BartÕs Seeburg F. Bart
would often use up to 14 wire sizes
when restoring pianos to ensure the
best sound quality possible.

12 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

That was BartÕs first attempt at doing
anything like that and it came out
wonderfully. He installed the xylophone
and had this machine for more
than 20 years.

Career

Bart had a degree in mechanical
engineering and worked for Bell Laboratories
for most of his life. His first
house was in Morris Plains, NJ, near
to his work in Whippany, NJ, where
he worked on a number of missile
systems. After the missile projects,
Bart ended up in a group within Bell
Laboratories that did plant design and
construction. They would go to other
Bell Labs locations that needed modifications
to their facilities. They would
do the design, estimate the cost and
monitor the construction. This organization
grew until they were designing
entire research laboratory and manufacturing
facilities and building them.
These were, of course, long term
projects. The first such project
was in Denver, CO, and

Bart got relocated there
for a couple of years, then
it was back to New Jersey,
and then to Florida in the
early 1980s to do a large
manufacturing facility in
Orlando, FL. Then he was
up in the Boston, MA, area
for about a year.

When Bart was relocated
to Denver, the
relocation counselor
asked if Bart had any items
of unusual weight or bulk.
He answered, ÒYes, I have
10 pianos!Ó the counselor
just laughed and Bart said,
ÒReally! I have 10 pianos.Ó
The move in 1977 cost Bell
Laboratories $132,000 (no
wonder they are no longer
in business!). They kept
relocating Bart and kept
moving all the pianos!

Growing the Collection

The final move was to
BartÕs area in Pennsylvania.
This is when Bart
really started growing his
collection. He had a home

about 5 miles away and he also had
a shop there. The house was a lovely
farmhouse and when the state wanted
to widen the road, he would only have
3 feet from the road to his kitchen
window. He ended up getting the state
to condemn the property and to buy
the house. This left him with the land
having a shop and a garage which
would be very difficult to sell. He
finally subdivided the land for building
lots and sold them. He then moved
to his last property which had much
acreage and built a new shop with a
display area erected in 2002.

Bart thought that this last abode
was too small, and he would move
again. He was designing a new house,
but it was never meant to be. Bart
could tell wonderful stories, and every
machine in his collection had a great
story behind it.

BartÕs shop and display area comprise
3,000 square feet. In the piano
room, Bart had 17 coin-operated

pianos. It was full. There were pianos
out in his waiting room Ð waiting for
restoration. Bart just had to figure out
where they were going to go when
they were done! One of BartÕs last
restorations was what Joe Hilferty
affectionately calls a ÒKT Sp.Ó This is
because, as completed, it has a little
more instrumentation than a KT but
somewhat less instrumentation than
a KT Special. The machine started
out as a Seeburg KT. It has a triangle,
tambourine and castanets. Bart put in
a bass drum. He did this because in
that particular KT, the tambourine and
castanets play in unison so that there
is nothing to keep the beat (hence the
need for a bass drum). Additionally,
Bart ÒsupersizedÓ the xylophone to 25
notes (G to G) to match the scale of
the piano. Seeburg traditionally used
a 22-note xylophone (G to E) and Bart
stated that when you are playing those
red hot 4X and G blues rolls, the extra
three notes in the treble end make all
the difference in the world.
It should be noted here

that both the bass drum
with the beater assembly
and the supersized xylophone
were built by Dave
Ramey, Jr. Dave enjoys
the challenge of building
custom coin piano parts. I
am sure there was considerable
communication
between Bart and Dave
during the fabrication

process since both the
drum and the xylophone
appear as factory installed
originals!

I commented that often
the bass drum and the
snare drums on a KT
Special are overwhelming.
Bart mentioned that
he had many discussions
with Art Reblitz cursing
the restorations of Gs, Hs
and KT Specials that arenÕt
properly voiced. The

The Seeburg KT Sp Bart customized
with a supersized
xylophone and a bass drum.

March/April 2018 MECHANICAL MUSIC 13

The Seeburg F with its art glass panels
removed to show off the impeccable
restoration work.

drums have to be balanced Ð not just
with one another, but with the whole
piano. Also important is expression.
The rolls have the capability of providing
expression and Bart believed you
can really bring the expression out of
the piano by very careful work.

The Seeburg F

The Seeburg F is a very rare machine.
This one came from Tim Trager. Bart
asked Tim for a picture and three
hours later Bart made a commitment.
This instrument came from what Tim
calls ÒThe House That Keeps on Giving.Ó
As Tim and his partner removed
one layer of pianos from this house,
there would be another layer that they
never saw before. Then when all the
pianos were removed, they realized
how many rolls were there.

The piano was pretty strong structurally.
It had a lot of nicks, dings, etc.
in the veneer. The bottom 4 inches of

A detail shot of the Seeburg F center panel art glass that Bart reproduced using the
very thin line stained glass style that matched other Seeburg Fs.

the piano was once in extremely damp There was a big hole about 15 inches
or wet conditions and was pretty in the middle. Collectors that had
much rotted. Bart replaced 30 ivory these machines sent Bart pictures of
keys to maintain an ivory key bed. the glass. He had six examples of the
The glass was completely destroyed. Òsun burstÓ glass to examine. From

14 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

that, Bart made his master. He got
the last of the green glass that was
available. Bart calls this the Seeburg
lollipop glass, because all Seeburg
trees look like lollipops. Bart did all of
the stained glass himself, maintaining
the very thin line work that Seeburg
used. You could see what a wonderful
job he did by looking at the pictures.
The lanterns are reproductions that
Don Teach had made. Bart put the
green glass in the lanterns to match
the original emerald glass on top.

The F originally had 25 violin pipes.
Most Fs had 32 flute pipes. Bruce Newman
of Oregon made the additional
seven pipes, so now the machine has
32 violin pipes.

The Double Mills Violano

BartÕs collection features a beautiful
double Mills Violano (having two
violins instead of the usual one). Bart
knew about this machine for about 25
years from talking to Frank Zygmunt,
Sr. over the years. He had it in storage
for at least that amount of time. It
came from an ice cream parlor in the
metropolitan Minneapolis, MN, area
which closed around 1948. The heirs to
the ice cream parlor sold the Mills at a
public auction in 1952. Frank Zygmunt
purchased the machine later. It was a
very clean, low mileage, unmolested,
Mills Double.

Bart got a call from Tim Trager about
nine years ago. Tim said it came from
Frank Zygmunt, Sr. and immediately
Bart was interested since he knew
the machine. He purchased it and
immediately had to perform 80 yearsÕ
worth of maintenance on it Ð cleaning,
lubricating, and redoing the piano
action (since hammers would get hard
over time). The original strings are
still in the machine and they are bright
and shiny. It must have been kept in
really wonderful condition. The case
has some crazing. This is because the
original owners must have loved it to
death Ð they waxed it, and waxed it,
and waxed it! This closes the pores in
the wood and the finish gets all ÒalligatoredÓ
(or ÒcrazedÓ).

The machine is a gem because the
violins have never been molested,
never been refinished and never been
repaired. Remember that above all it

The double Mills Violano that originally played in an ice cream parlor.

is a violin machine and thatÕs whatÕs
important.

The ÒDancing GirlÓ Seeburg K

BartÕs collection has a beautiful
Seeburg K with a Dancing Girl stained
glass front. I noticed that the controls
for mandolin, etc. were on the side
instead of the front like my Seeburg

K. Bart said that this was an early
K (around 1917) with pipes. Bart
bought the machine from Wolfgang
Schweppe. It was missing the pipes,
the glass and the doors but the lid was
there. The sides were loose and had
to be strapped together to move it. It
had many coats of ugly green paint,
but there was enough of it there and
the price was good enough so Bart
dragged it home and turned it into
something really nice. Under the lid,
Bart could see that it was originally
a black oak Seeburg Ð which is really
unusual. It took Bart quite a while to
replicate the black oak where you
could see the grain through the finish.
He had a lot of work to do. Ultimately,
he had to replace the lid. Jerry Biasella
had a set of doors. Bart had to do all
the sound board work, the down-bearing,
etc. The machine was done in
1987. Originally, Bart put a set of flute
pipes in, and in 2011 he had a set of
piccolo pipes made by Bruce Newman
This Seeburg K has a black oak case,
which is quite unusual.

in Oregon.

The Western Electric Style X

This machine was bought in 1988
on eBay, from Sacramento, CA. Bart
looked on eBay, saw the machine and
noticed that the auction had ended.
The sellerÕs phone number was part
of the description, so Bart called. The
seller said that his secretary listed the
item improperly so he removed the

March/April 2018 MECHANICAL MUSIC 15

listing. are some things you should know. I
Bart asked, ÒDo you want to sell it?Ó bought it from a rebuilder who went
The seller said, ÒWell, yes, but there out of business, kind of skipped

BartÕs Western Electric Style X journeyed from California to Pennsylvania and now
resides in Ohio.

Inside the Western Electric Style X that Bart restored.

town and abandoned his shop. So, I
purchased this and another machine
at a sheriffÕs sale. It was pretty much
disassembled. So, I put all the parts
together that I thought would go with
it into big boxes, but somebody has to
put it together.Ó It amounted to two
cartons of stuff (each carton was one
cubic yard).

Bart said, ÒIÕm in Pennsylvania,
youÕre in California. You have two
cubic yard cartons each weighing
about 200 pounds. We got a big
expense there. How much do you
want for the machine?Ó He wanted
$6,500.

Bart said, ÒI canÕt give you $6,500 and
move all that stuff from California.Ó

The seller responded, ÒWould you
give me $5,500?Ó After protracted
negotiations, Bart paid $4,000 for the
machine and all the stuff and the seller
included the delivery.

When Bart opened up the two cubic
yard boxes, he found parts for the
Western Electric in there, but they
were mostly Durrell Armstrong buildyour-
own nickelodeon parts which
Bart sold on the day they arrived for
$1,000. The piano turned out to be so
clean that it only needed what Bart
calls Òa straight player piano restoration.Ó
He put new bass strings and a
new piano action in it.

I always wondered about the name
Western Electric. The famous Western
Electric was well known to be part
of the Bell Telephone System. The
nickelodeon company was a subsidiary
of Seeburg. I couldnÕt imagine
how Seeburg would be allowed
to use that name. It turns out that
the full name for the nickelodeon
company was the Western Electric
Piano Company because it was in the
west (Chicago). Therefore, itÕs the
Western Ð Electric Piano Company.
When the Seeburg-owned Western
Electric Piano Company suspended
operations in 1931 the Bell Western
Electric Company came to the auction
and bought the name for like $35 Ð just
to get it off the record.

The Coinola Midget
Orchestrion Style O

This machine has a xylophone, mandolin,
bass drum, snare drum, triangle,

16 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

This Coinola Midget Orchestrion Style
O once sat outside Frontierland in
Disneyland. Restoration of this machine
took more than 1,100 hours.

tambourine, wood block, and piano. It
was bought from Wolfgang Schweppe.
Before that, it was purchased from

A.C. Raney in 1953 by Walt Disney. It
was used in Disneyland when the park
opened. It sat outside in Frontierland
until 1962. The front panels of the
machine were veneered in 1/8-inch
thick tempered Masonite and covered
with body filler and finally wood
grained. The side panels were stripped
to wood and epoxied over and wood-
grained. There was a sheet metal lid on
it with a drip edge to keep the rain out.
The entire piano had to be rebuilt and
new doors had to be made. The entire
cabinet was re-veenered. It required
more than 1,100 hours of work.
The Seeburg C

In 1980, Bart got a Seeburg Style
C machine from Art Reblitz. It has a
piano and mandolin. ItÕs a very early
machine, built around 1910 or 1911.
It had the clear beveled glass in it
and Bart made the ÒSwan GlassÓ for
it, copying from an original C. It still
needs a total restoration.

The art-glass front of the Seeburg C features a swan floating on a lake.

This Link Style C was a mess on the inside when Bart got it. He had to remove the
green aquarium tubing and pouch leather and replace it with proper materials.

The Link Style 2

The Link Style 2 is basically a piano
and mandolin. Bart located an original
marimbaphone for a Link.

This plays one octave lower than
the Link xylophones that are the most
commonly found. This machine was
still in the waiting room when Bart
passed!

The Link Style C

This machine was BartÕs first purchase
ever on eBay. It has 28 open
flute pipes, which are voiced at 10
inches of pressure (almost like a band
organ if you pull the front off). The
exterior was gorgeous, but the interior
was a mess. Someone had used green
aquarium tubing, and the pneumatics

March/April 2018 MECHANICAL MUSIC 17

The Nelson-Wiggen Casino X (leftmost machine in this image) has a xylophone mounted horizontally on the underside of the lid.

were covered in pouch leather. This
machine came from the Milhaus collection.
Bart was the only bidder.

More Machines

A late Seeburg K machine (1921)
with violin pipes was purchased from
the collection of Dave Ramey, Sr. after
Dave died. There was a big demand for
this machine, but Bart got it because
he had asked first.

There is also a late Seeburg KT with
violin pipes from Tim Trager. The late
machines with violin pipes are pretty
rare. Also, this machine has a silver
fox finish which Bart really liked.

The Barber Shop

Another machine in BartÕs collection
is a Seeburg K that was restored
in 1966 by a man named Willis Snyder.
This machine was once in a Kutztown,

PA, barber shop owned by Clarence
Dysher, who committed suicide in
1972. The end of Clarence was also
the end of his barber shop. ClarenceÕs
home was right across the street
from the barber shop. So, his widow
brought the nickelodeon to the house
and thatÕs where it sat for years. One
day, Bart opened up the phone book,
and found Anna Dysher. Bart says that
he only lived 5 miles from her and
would like to come over to see the
Seeburg K. For years he said he had
been meaning to visit the barber shop
but never did. Anna Dysher enthusiastically
invited Bart to see the machine,
but one thing led to another, and
Bart never visited. Five years later,
however, Bart was going through his
stuff and he saw Anna DysherÕs phone
number. He called several times but
got no answer. This was in January of

2011.

Bart then asked a realtor friend in
Kutztown if he knew Anna. The realtor
said he knew her very well but she had
died the year before. The realtor said,
ÒHey, she has one of those things like
you have.Ó (This is the same realtor
that told Bart, ÒYour place is lousy
with themÓ).

Bart said, ÒYes, I know she had one
of those things like I have; thatÕs why
IÕm trying to locate her.Ó

The realtor said ÒWell you canÕt,
sheÕs dead.Ó

Bart asked the realtor if he knew
where the Seeburg K ended up. The
realtor said Anna and Clarence had no
heirs or sons or daughters, but a young
lad did take the widow in during the
last years of her life and cared for her.
Anna had left the home and everything
to him.

18 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

This Cremona G is one of the few with clear beveled glass.

Bart asked, ÒYou wouldnÕt know his
name, would you?Ó

The realtor said, ÒYepÓ and gave Bart
the fellowÕs name. Incredible! The fellow
lived 3 miles down the road from
Bart. Bart asked, ÒWhatÕs his phone
number?Ó

The realtor said, ÒDonÕt push me!Ó
Bart opened up the trusty phone
book and found the manÕs name and
number.

When Bart called, the fellow said,
ÒNo, no, itÕs not for sale, itÕs worth
$57,000, I had it appraised É Ò

Bart said, ÒThis conversation really
canÕt continue, but IÕd like to come
over and see it sometime.Ó

After two weeks the fellow called
Bart up and said, ÒI was really messing
with you when I said $57,000 and I
really would like to sell the machine.Ó

Bart asked if the fellow had any idea
of what he wanted for the machine.
The man said, ÒIÕd like to get $10,000
for it.Ó

Bart replied that he wasnÕt sure he
would pay him $10,000 for it, but that
he would like to come and take a look
at it. Bart expected to see a machine

that really needed restoration. What
Bart saw was a machine that didnÕt
have a nick or a scratch on it anywhere,
with the original finish, perfect glass
and that played reasonably well. The
fellow wanted to see BartÕs collection
before opening any negotiations, and
he was awestruck when he walked
into BartÕs display area. After the third
glass of wine, Bart made him an offer,
set the cash on the table right in front
of him and the man said that would
be Òfine.Ó Bart moved the machine
the next day. He even got the original
invoice from the restorer (Willis Snyder),
in 1966 for $571.50 including $15
sales tax and $15 cartage fee.

The Nelson-Wiggen Casino X

This machine was in Tim TragerÕs
office for years before he sold it to
Bart. The xylophone was restored but
all of the controls had rotted pouches.
So, Bart spent an afternoon and put
all new pouches in, and son-of-a-gun
it just took off! This machine is unique
in that it has the xylophone lying horizontally
on the underside of the lid.

Nelson-Wiggen was a spin-off

company of Seeburg. Two employees,
Oscar Nelson and Peter Wiggen,
quit Seeburg and started their own
company. They were the chief design
engineers for Seeburg. Bart noted that
it can be interesting to ask yourself,
when restoring a Nelson-Wiggen
machine, ÒWhy would they do something
like this?Ó He said Seeburg must
have been infuriated that Nelson
and Wiggen should not only leave
the company but then go into direct
competition with Seeburg in the coin
piano business. Bart said he could only
imagine the number of patent infringement
threats there must have been. He
said that if you look at Nelson-Wiggen
cabinet machines, everything below
the shelf has brass fasteners, brass
screws, brass nuts and bolts. Bart surmised
that there must have been some
verbiage somewhere in a contract that
allowed them to build a machine only
if it had brass fasteners. The spool
frame on a Nelson-Wiggen is noticeably
quite different from the Seeburg
mechanism.

Even with all these differences, the
sound of these machines is fabulous.
Bart said that the Seeburg K, KT, KT
Special, the Link 2, 2E and the Nel-
son-Wiggen cabinet pianos all used
exactly the same piano plate. Bart
had restored 20 of these cabinet style
machines. In the Seeburg, which has
the same plate and same stringing
scale, they only used four or five
different wire sizes. Link used five or
six. The Nelson-Wiggen used about
10 wire sizes. The nice brightness
of a Nelson-Wiggen machine comes
from better stringing of the piano.
Nelson-Wiggen took the time to use
10 different wire sizes rather than
the four or five. Bart used 14 sizes on
pianos he restored.

The Cremona G

The Cremona Style G machine
plays A rolls. Did you expect that they
would play G rolls? This is one of the
few known with the clear beveled
glass. It has unusual pink and blue
glass and 32 open flutes. The cabinet
of this machine is really extraordinary
in the high craftsman style. It is an
extremely difficult restoration to do
properly. BartÕs machine was awaiting

March/April 2018 MECHANICAL MUSIC 19

The Link 2E machine Bart purchased from a flower shop owner in Cleveland, OH.

restoration. He said it had been finished
once before and itÕs fortunate
that the prior owner didnÕt own sandpaper.
This machine also came from
the Òhouse that keeps on giving.Ó

The Link 2E

One time, Bart got a call from Mike
Gorski in Cleveland, OH. Mike mainly
collects arcade and slot machines. He
asked, ÒAre you still buying nickelodeons,
Bart?Ó

Bart responded with, ÒOccasionally,
when I can afford them.Ó

Mike said, ÒIs a Link a good one?Ó

By talking for a while, Bart determined
it was a Link 2E. Mike then said,
ÒHereÕs the guyÕs phone number, he
owns a flower shop in Cleveland.Ó So,
Bart gave the man a call and agreed
upon a price. It was a good price. Bart
thought he might have been too quick
to agree, because the man called back
and demanded another $1,000. The

The Nelson-Wiggen 4x that led Bart to
warn others to never purchase an item
from eBay if the pictures are fuzzy.

man said, ÒI quoted you too little.Ó
Bart agreed, and since it was still an
affordable price, he drove up to the
flower shop in Cleveland and picked
it up. Bart had to do a total restoration
on the machine, including the sound
board and the down-bearing. Some of
the roll frame pieces were broken, it
needed new xylophone beaters, and a
whole new pneumatic assembly was
installed. Bart said, ÒBut itÕs a joy. It
belongs here and I love it.Ó

The Nelson-Wiggen 4X

This machine was listed on eBay
being sold out of Denver, CO. Bart
could see from the photos that the
machine wasnÕt entirely correct, but
he did not tell to what extent things
were not right.

Later, he would warn others, ÒdonÕt
buy anything on eBay if it has fuzzy
pictures.Ó It ended up being the only
thing Bart purchased on eBay that he
refused to leave feedback for.

When it showed up, it was painted
blue, the sides were falling off, the
xylophone was incorrect, the drum
was incorrect, the motor was incorrect
and the cabinet was so bad that it
had to be entirely re-veneered.

Bart made a new lid. The shelves,
the doors and the front panel all had
to be re-veneered as well.

20 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

Cinco de Mayo

Annually Bart hosted a well-known
get-together which he called ÒCinco
de MayoÓ even though it didnÕt always
occur on May 5. Bart said the event
evolved quite naturally. He had been
involved in the mechanical music
hobby for more than 40 years, doing
restorations and collecting all that
time. There were so many people Bart
came to know in that time, (whether
they were collectors, restorers or
just down-right enthusiasts), that he
decided in 2002 to pull everybody
together for a party. He said he asked
people when the best time for them
would be, but they always would tell
him his dates were at the wrong time
of the year. Winter weather made
traveling difficult and the summertime
conflicted with peopleÕs vacations
plans. So, Bart said, ÒAll right, how
about the first weekend in May, before
the summer plans but after the bad
weather? ItÕs the perfect time to make
a break.Ó

Bart just wanted to get the collectors,
restorers and enthusiasts
together with no agenda at all. No
meeting, no people sitting on couches
eating crumpets, no old business, no
new business, nobody falling asleep.
Just nickelodeons. It was a smashing
success. The first year there was about
a dozen people. They would listen
to nickelodeon music, swap stories
and learn from one another. People
got to know each other. It worked
out so well he repeated it each year
including 2016, when he was already
ill. His scheduling formula was simple,
the party would happen on the first
closest weekend to May 5 that doesnÕt
interfere with MotherÕs Day weekend.

The get-together grew to about 22
people, which is basically all Bart
could accommodate in his shop/piano
room. Each year, Bart tried to invite a
couple of newbies. At about 6:30 p.m.
everybody would go out to a restaurant
to have a wonderful dinner.

Bart looked at the mechanical musical
instrument hobby as a big salad
bowl. You got tomatoes, onions, artichoke
hearts, and hard-boiled eggs all
in there. The collectors might be the
tomatoes; the restorers might be the
artichoke hearts, and the onions might

Top: A drunk monk art glass piece restored by Bart. Bottom: A piece called Land of
the Midnight Sun that would be installed in a Seeburg B.

Bart loved welcoming guests for his annual Cinco de Mayo parties where there were
no meetings and no crumpets, only music and fun with good people.

be enthusiasts. The tomatoes never
talk to the artichoke hearts and the
onions never talk to the hard-boiled
eggs. So, Bart put everybody together
in the salad bowl and it was a rip-roaring
success. Suffice it to say that
BartÕs main goal was just to increase
the communication between people
he knew. Bart wished he could just
reach out to others and open the flood
gates to everybody. He just didnÕt have
the space to do it. The Cinco de Mayo
get-together for the few folks that Bart
could invite is his contribution to the
hobby. It was his way of paying back

for all of the wonderful friends and
experiences he had in mechanical
music.

Please feel free to email Matt Jaro at
mjaro@verizon.net if you would like
any information about style ÒAÓ, ÒGÓ,
Ò4XÓ, ÒHÓ or ÒOÓ rolls. Also, comments
and suggestions for this column will be
appreciated.

Reprinted with permission of the
author and The Automatic Musical
Instrument CollectorsÕ Association
(AMICA). Originally printed in the May-
June 2012 issue of The AMICA Bulletin.

March/April 2018 MECHANICAL MUSIC 21

Making 300

The Story of How the MBSI 2017 Annual Table Favors Came to Be

by Bill Guimes

2017 Annual Meeting Chairman

It all started at our first planning
meeting held sometime in mid 2015.
As this was my first ever annual meeting,
and I was the meeting chairman
to boot, Bill Wineburgh graciously
stepped in and chaired the first planning
meeting. There were about 20
members in attendance. Bill was going
down the list of committees asking for
volunteers. So far, so good, until he
got to table favors.

Lots of glances back and forth. Bill
asked again for a volunteer to chair
the Table Favor Committee. As I have

some manufacturing experience, I
said IÕd chair the committee. A recurring
phrase I kept hearing over and
over was Ò…and donÕt worry. YouÕll
have plenty of help.Ó OK, I thought,
how bad could this be?

After the planning meeting, I discovered
that the Table Favor Committee
consisted of Bill and myself. We had
a meeting to discuss past table favors
and what would be appropriate for
our annual meeting theme, which
was Music Made In New Jersey. That
meant the table favor would be a

representation of a disc or possibly a
cylinder music box.

Searching the internet for wood
boxes and musical movements, I
discovered that while building a representation
of a cylinder box would
be unique, it would be almost mechanically
impossible if we were to keep to
our $15 per box budget. So, a disc box
it would be.

Again, turning to the internet for
some help, I found sources for the
boxes, musical movements, and other
wood and mechanical components.

22 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

As we had planned for 300 people to
attend the annual meeting, everything
needed to be ordered in batches of

300. This meant that between the
wood boxes, musical movements,
wood and hardware we would end up
with 1,200 individual pieces.
I ordered some sample boxes,
musical movements, wood and hardware
to start building prototypes. My
original plan was to have the music
play when the lid was opened. So,
I built one. It was a lot of trial and
error, but it worked. Using the same
measurements from the first one,
I built a second one. It worked, but
only after I spent almost 45 minutes
adjusting the on/off lever. This, I
decided, was not a practical design.
So, I built a simpler version which
allowed the tune to play with the lid
open or closed and it worked without
any extraordinary fiddling. I showed
it to the chapter members, and except
for the finish I applied, they said it
was acceptable. Now, we only had to
make 299 more!

The first and easiest thing to do
was to order the wood boxes, which
was simple enough. Then, it was time
to get the movements. I discovered
that the company I chose to order
the movements from, National
Artcraft, is a distributor for Sankyo
Music Movements. Comparing the
cost and size of all the movements
they offered, we ended up choosing
18-note movements. Something I had
not considered when starting this process,
is that certain tunes are subject
to copyright restrictions. On some of
the movements, Sankyo had already
negotiated copyright agreements,
so there was no extra charge, as the
copyright license fee was built into the
price. Where no copyright agreement
existed, Sankyo would have had to
apply for a license to distribute the
tune. This could have increased the
price to as much as $5 per movement
and potentially blown our budget. The
tunes we ended up selecting were
ÒWhistle a Happy TuneÓ and ÒEnglish
Country Garden.Ó

On my two prototype Regina music
boxes, the shaft that held the disc was
offset to the left to make room for the
comb and then centered front to back.

The spacer glued to the bottom of the movement, and (inside the box) the four
standoffs that will hold the movement cover at the correct distance from the top of
the box.

Knurling the ends of the accessory shafts to attach the discs.

March/April 2018 MECHANICAL MUSIC 23

All the components used to assemble the table favor. Back row from left to right: lid
stop, four standoffs, and locater for the movement. Front row: cover for the move-
ment, an assembled disc, and a disc with accessory shaft ready to be paired.

Spacers were used to hold the movement in the correct location inside the box
while the glue dried.

It meant that during our manufacturing
process for the rest of the table
favors I had to measure the distances
from the left and right of each box so
that I could cut and glue a piece of
wood to the bottom of the movement

Ð 300 times. The connection for the
winding key is at 90 degrees to the
cylinder and the connection for the
accessory shaft, the shaft that the disc
is attached to, is on the cylinder itself.
So, as assembled, the bottom of the
movement is set parallel to the back of
the box and the accessory shaft stands
vertical so that a disc can be attached
to it for playing.
Next step was to cover the movement.
This required a piece of 1/8-inch
thick balsa wood large enough to hide
the movement. I knew there had to
be a way to place the cover inside the
case so it would sit level, and also not
touch, the movement. That required
four pieces of strip wood long enough
to hold the cover above the movement,
but low enough to allow space for the
disc when the lid was closed. Cutting
the cover, and then the two strips that
held the cover in place meant I would
be turning 300 pieces of wood into
1,500 pieces, plus I also needed to
stain the movement covers to match
the color of the boxes.

Mounting the discs to the accessory
shaft was the most difficult part
of the process because the discs are
only about 1/32-inch thick and the
accessory shafts are a little less than
1/8-inch in diameter. First, I tried to
fasten the discs to the shafts just by
using Crazy Glue, or ACC. It turned
out that the surface area was much
too small for a strong bond. My next
thought was to drill a hole in the disc
and, using ACC, glue the shaft in the
hole. Still I found that there was not
enough surface area for a good bond.
This led me to my next idea which
was to drill a hole smaller than the
shaft and press and glue the shaft into
the disc. It worked better, but it was
still not going to be strong enough
to withstand repeated playing of the
disc.

To create more surface area on the
shaft, I decided that I could knurl,
or deform, the end of the accessory
shaft, then glue and press the shaft

24 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

The movement cover installed with disc mounted.

The winding key with extensions.

into the disc. Success at last! The only
problem now was how was I going
to knurl the end of all 300 accessory
shafts. Since I did not have access to a
lathe, I used a Vise-Grip to provide the
necessary deformation. I had to drill
a hole in the center of each disc, so I
made a drill jig where I could drill 10
discs at a time. At least that meant IÕd
have to drill only 100 times instead of
300 individual discs.

The next question was whether
the winding keys supplied with each
movement could reach the movement
to crank the spring, but, alas, they
were not long enough because the
bottom of the movement where the
winding key is inserted was located
more than an inch away from the side
of the box. I needed to use two winding
key extensions, glued together
with ACC, to get the required length.

In the meantime, Bill Wineburgh
prepared the boxes by sanding, staining,
and applying feet to the bottom of
each box so they would sit just a bit
up and away from whatever surface
they were set on. I drilled a hole
in the back of each of the boxes to
accommodate the winding key. At the
start of our production line, I drilled
holes in 120 boxes and gave them to
Bill for finishing. When he was done
with 60, he would give them back for

The rear of the box showing the tune sheet, winding key and lid holder piece.

assembly. When I was done putting
the 60 together, IÕd drill 60 more. We
kept this up until all 300 boxes were
complete.

Next came the lid lock. On the prototype,
I installed an arm to hold the
lid open while the disc was playing.
Doing that 300 times would have
taken far too long, so I thought up
some other ideas. First, I used a short
length of brass chain attached to the

box and the lid. It worked well, but,
there was no way the chain could be
installed quickly, so I let go of that
idea to avoid a time-crunch as the
deadline for the annual meeting was
fast approaching. My next idea was to
simply glue a small bit of wood to the
back of the box making sure it would
protrude far enough to hold the lid
open yet not be so obtrusive that it
would ruin the aesthetics of the box.

March/April 2018 MECHANICAL MUSIC 25

It worked, but it meant I had to cut 300
more pieces of wood and glue them on
each box. Luckily for me, it took only
about 30 seconds per box to glue them
on. Done.

Then there were the labels to be
applied. Glenn Crater and his wife
Barbara did the printing and preparation
of the disc overlays and labels.
There was the Regina label that was
applied to the lid underside, the disc
overlay, and the label that had the tune
name that was applied to the back.
The event sticker that was applied to
the bottom was created by Bill.

We finished about a month before
the annual meeting and, thankfully,
the table favors at that point only
needed a final inspection and cleaning.
Bill was able to get cardboard boxes
to pack the table favors in which was
great because we could use them as
mailing boxes as well. We scheduled
one final work session where we
cleaned, inspected and packed 300
table favors in about two-and-one-half
hours, lunch included.

I ended up doing all the mechanical
work at my shop because there
was the problem of finding a central
location where we could enlist other
chapter members to help with the construction
of the table favors. Bill did
the sanding and finishing at his shop
because there was the problem of dust
and noxious odors from the finishing
process. He did the staining when the
outside temperature was above 50
degrees. While the Morris Museum is
fairly centrally located relative to our
memberÕs homes, there was no place
available to store the table favors
between work sessions.

To anyone else who may become

The bottom of the box with the meeting sticker applied.

a table favor committee chair for an
annual meeting, let me offer some
words of advice. Keep everything as
simple as possible. Consider the skills
of the other members who wish to
help. Try not to overproduce. We only
have about 120 boxes, 60 of each tune,
left. Before you start, try to procure a
place where you can securely store the
project pieces between work sessions
as you certainly donÕt want to have to
start over if everything gets ruined by
poor storage.

Finally, here is a list of sources for
the components of our table favors.
The wood boxes came from Wood-
crafters. The musical movements
came from National Artcraft. The
discs came from P. J. Tool. National
Artcraft has a $19 minimum order. The
other companies have no minimum. I
sourced the balsa and other wood
from vendors on Ebay.

Good luck to you, and I look forward
to seeing the next creation at our next
annual meeting.

WE WANT YOUR STORY!

Every mechanical musical instrument has a tale to tell. Share the history of people
who owned your instrument before you, or the story of its restoration, or just what
makes it an interesting piece. Send stories via email to editor@mbsi.org or
mail your story to Iron Dog Media, 130 Coral Court, Pismo Beach, CA 93449

26 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

Save the Date

The 2018 MBSI
Annual Meeting
is coming
Aug. 28 – Sept. 1

MAKE PLANS NOW TO JOIN US IN

Meeting Sponsored by the Mid-America Chapter
DETROIT
MI

Morris Museum has a new executive director

The Morris Museum in Morristown,
NJ, has appointed Cleveland Johnson
as its new executive director. Johnson
is an Oxford-educated music historian
who has studied in Germany and India,
and is an expert on the pipe organ.

ÒI am confident his experience in
museum leadership, education, music,
the arts, and grant-making Ð coupled
with his engaging personality Ð will
serve our institution exceptionally
well for years to come,Ó said Gerri
Horn, chair of the board and a member
of the search committee that selected
Johnson.

For the last five years, Johnson
served as director of the National
Music Museum at the University of
South Dakota, overseeing a $1.5 million
budget, a 20-member staff and a
collection of 15,000 historic musical
instruments.

At the Morris Museum, he will be
responsible for a $2.5 million budget,
25 employees, a 300-seat theater (the
Bickford), and nearly 50,000 items
ranging from gems and minerals to
Native American, model trains and the
world renowned Murtogh D. Guinness
Collection of Mechanical Musical
Instruments and Automata.

Johnson said, ÒAfter my experience
at an institution that had a national
reach, but a small local base, IÕm looking
forward to the Morris Museum with
its deep local roots of over a century
and its devotion to the community. IÕm
enthusiastic to work with the Morris
Museum Board of Trustees and staff to
define how we can serve that community
even better in the years ahead.Ó

In addition to his work at the
National Music Museum, Johnson is
Professor Emeritus and past Dean of

AutomataCon 2018 is coming in May

AutomataCon is a convention of and
for artists, collectors, historians, and
enthusiasts of automatons and related
kinetic art. It is a three-day event being
held May 18-20, 2018, at the Morris
Museum in Morristown, NJ, home of
the Murtogh D. Guinness Collection of
Mechanical Musical Instruments and
Automata.

The goal of the convention is to
gather people from around the world
to share ideas, build relationships,
and grow interest in automata, new
and old. The convention will include
a variety of private and public events,
including social gatherings, museum
tours, panel discussions, live demonstrations,
workshops, presentations,
and an exhibition.

This yearÕs convention will be
somewhat larger in size and scope
than previous gatherings. The first
convention, hosted by the Morris
Museum in 2016, had 650 participants
of all ages attending from around
the globe. Event organizers hope to
double that number partly by showing
a special exhibition in the large main
gallery entitled ÒA Cache of Kinetic

Art: Curious Characters.Ó This display
features the creative energy and vitality
of kineticism as expressed through
the living form: figures, be they human,
animal or fantasy. This will be the first
in a four-year series at the museum,
devoted to this subject.

Attendees can choose to come
for the Friday evening reception,
SaturdayÕs presentations, SundayÕs
programs or the entire convention. All
activities take place at the museum.

Cleveland Johnson is the new executive
director of the Morris Museum.

the School of Music (DePauw University,
Greencastle, IN) and a former
executive director of the Thomas J.
Watson Fellowship at the Thomas J.
Watson Foundation (New York, NY).
Johnson holds a bachelorÕs degree in
music from the Oberlin College Conservatory
of Music and a doctorate in
philosophy from Oxford University.

There will be no home visits, bus trips
or organized meals. Gourmet lunch
trucks will be on site, and restaurants
are close by in downtown Morristown
or nearby Florham Park, NJ. Several
hotels are within two miles of the
museum, but guests may also opt to
stay in Manhattan and then make day
trips to attend the event. The museum
is a one-hour train ride away and
about the same distance by car. It is 20
minutes from Newark Liberty International
Airport (EWR).

Programs in the works include:
Cabaret Mechanical Theatre, 19th
Century French Automata, Clockwork
Tools and Techniques, Kinetic Artists
Panel, Magic Automata, Mechanical
Singing Birds; Robots of Human-form,
the Maker Movement, 3-D Printers
and Laser Cutters, and Paper and
Card-Related Automata. In addition,
award-winning art film documentary
producer Olympia Stone has kindly
offered two films for viewing, including
her new release ÒDouble Take

Ð The Art of Elizabeth King.Ó
For more details, or to pre-register,
visit www.AutomataCon.org.

28 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

Interesting Tidbits

The photos on this and the next two pages come from
an album purchased by Siegfried Wendel, founder of
the museum Siegfrieds Mechanisches Musikkabinett
RŸdesheim (https://goo.gl/nC4wDo), during his travels
through the former German Democratic Republic (East
Germany). SiegfriedÕs son, Jens Wendel, recently allowed
the photos from the books to be scanned and shared for

the enjoyment of all mechanical music lovers. Jens said
neither he nor his father had any idea how a book of photos
like this ended up in East Germany in the hands of a private
collector. A PDF of all the photos is available from Marc
WiduchÕs website at http://faszinationpianola.de/

To download the PDF directly, go to http://www.en.
faszinationpianola.de/downloads/1930_hupfeldbuch.pdf.

According to the dates on some of the photos in the album, these pictures appear to have been taken during 1927-28. This is
clearly a showroom where visitors could see and hear the various models of automatic pianos, orchestrions and the popular
Hupfeld Phonoliszt-Violina.

A group of factory workers beside their finished product. The telephone switchboard inside the Hupfeld factory.

March/April 2018 MECHANICAL MUSIC 29

Several models of Hupfeld orchestrions can be seen in various states of completion on the factory floor.

A meeting, perhaps a sales meeting or training session, is conducted in the factory among partially-finished instruments.

30 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

A Hupfeld Theatre Violina, designed to be less than 5 feet tall so that it could be used in the orchestra pits.

Julian Dyer and Paul Tuck both posted on Mechanical Music Digest (http:mmdigest.com) that the one-armed pianist in this
photo is the famous Paul Wittgenstein, who commissioned pieces for the left hand from a number of renowned composers.
Julian states that Wittgenstein had six rolls issued by Hupfeld. Julian states that he owns one of the rolls, and he has recorded
it and made it available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw3r3UY73lk

March/April 2018 MECHANICAL MUSIC 31

Southeast Chapter

Chapter Chair: Judy Miller
Reporter: Mary Ellen Myers, for Margery
and Howard Sanford
Photographers: Clay Witt and Mary
Ellen Myers

Jan. 26-28, 2018 Ð Jacksonville, FL

The winter meeting weekend of
Southeast Chapter was filled with fun
surprises, the first of which took place
on Friday, the evening of registration.
Cotton Morlock presented a Òmagic
lantern showÓ of European destinations.
The Magic Lantern is a primitive
(circa early 1900) image projector,
using glass slide painted, printed or
photographically produced images.
Musical support was provided by Clay
WittÕs live phonographic music, setting
the background tone for each country
of the itinerary.

CottonÕs humorous dialog throughout
the show immensely enhanced
the audios and visuals. Keeping to
the same time frame, an episode of
ÒPerils of Pauline,Ó one of an early
silent movie series, was shown, with
amazing keyboard musical accompaniment
by Stephen Brittain. StephenÕs
expressive, emotionally charged
music required neither audio nor
subtitles to follow the movie. Music
did the talking!

By the way, this film series was done
in Jacksonville, FL, the original home
of the movie industry.

A short business meeting was conducted
by Chapter Chair Judy Miller
on Saturday morning.

New members and guests received
a hardy Southeast welcome. A total
of 61 people attended this meeting.
Treasurer Clay Witt indicated we
are in sound financial shape. He and
Vice Chapter Chair Jack Hostetler
reviewed upcoming chapter and
national events. Moe Goldy showed
and told about his new retirement
hobbies utilizing paper as a medium.
The meeting was followed by a mart.

Cotton with his magic (not CottonÕs) lantern. Clay Witt and Stephen Brittain prepar-
ing for the show.

Lunchtime directed most of us to
ClarkÕs Fish Camp, an experiential
eatery featuring exotic animals of all
kinds, stuffed, of course. It was great
food, and great company!

After dining, we had the pleasure of
visiting the beautiful home of George
and Wilma Fryer. Their impressive
collection is excelled only by their

gracious hospitality! Musical items
include a 1920s Chickering reproducing
grand piano, a 27-inch Orchestral
Regina folding top disc player, and a
Stella Grand (upright), to name just
a few. Also, they have a Symphonion
model 25R Wall Clock, a collection of
early Lionel and Ives standard gauge
trains and accessories, including

Chapter members waiting for lunch at ClarkÕs Fish Camp. ClarkÕs Fish Camp has a unique atmosphere.

George Fryer demonstrating the 27-inch Orchestral Regina folding-top disc player.

Some of the exotic animals at ClarkÕs Fish Camp. A gorgeous cylinder box in the Fryer collection.

railroad chandeliers and wall sconces
from 1880s railroad passenger
coaches, and a 1909 EMF touring car,
fully restored.

On Saturday evening everyone
kicked back to enjoy a tasty
dinner with the Morlocks at their
lovely home, followed by an evening
of visiting, chatting, getting to know
each other better, enjoying their many
musical items, and playing on the 1924
Brunswick Monarch pool table, to the
accompaniment of phonographs, a
Wurlitzer 1015 Jukebox and a Rockola
#30 Luxury Lightup countertop jukebox.
Many other mechanical music
instruments occupied strategic walls
and corners of their home.

Warren Officer opened his home and
workshop to us on Sunday morning.
He takes great pride in his restoration
skills. We experienced first-hand just

March/April 2018 MECHANICAL MUSIC 33

Judy Miller takes the driverÕs seat of GeorgeÕs 1909 EMF Warren Officer with Wilma Fryer and the 1920s Chickering

Touring car. reproducing grand piano that played a performance of Piano
Concerto No. 3, which was composed, arranged, and performed
by Rachmaninoff.

Warren Officer plays an orchestrion for guests. Bob and Clair Zaiser admire the FryerÕs railroad memorabilia.

Moe Goldy with his retirement hobby paper creations. One of Moe GoldyÕs new paper creations
he demonstrated to the group.

34 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

Cotton Morlock (back turned, center) plays some of his instruments
for guests. Members chat during social time at the Morlock home.

Ron Connolly, Diane Yates, Jamie Brewer, and Bob Yates Dwight Porter chats with David and Carol Beck at the Morlock
socializing at the MorlockÕs home. home.

Moe Goldy also demonstrated this mid20th
century whistler as part of his show A Beckwith O roll nickelodeon with seven instruments under restoration in Warren
and tell. OfficerÕs workshop.

March/April 2018 MECHANICAL MUSIC 35

Wayne Finger talks with other chapter members about Warren
OfficerÕs (standing right) newly-restored Seeburg L.

Warren OfficerÕs restored Seeburg L with doors open and

lights on.
A restoration project underway in Warren OfficerÕs workshop.

what is involved in restoration when we visited his workshop.
Recently restored is a gorgeous 1923 Seeburg L. In
current restoration is a Beckwith O roll nickelodeon with
seven instruments, and a 1929 Knabe 5-foot-4-inch piano
with Ampico B, and baby Ampico awaiting restoration.
In his living quarters are numerous restored instruments,
validating his enjoyment of his accomplishments.

The chapter would like to thank all the organizers and
everyone involved for making this weekend so special.
You all (all 61 of you) come back for the next meeting in
Peachtree Corners, GA. on the weekend of Apr. 20-22, 2018
for our Spring meeting. Organizers are David and Carol
Beck.

A Knabe 5-foot-4-inch piano in Warren OfficerÕs workshop.

WE WANT YOUR STORY!

Every mechanical musical instrument has a tale to tell. Share the history of people
who owned your instrument before you, or the story of its restoration, or just what
makes it an interesting piece. Send stories via email to editor@mbsi.org or
mail your story to Iron Dog Media, 130 Coral Court, Pismo Beach, CA 93449

36 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

Snowbelt Chapter 2017 Year In Review

Chapter Chair: Tracy Tolzmann
Reporters: Merrie and Tracy Tolzmann
Photographers: Merrie and Tracy
Tolzmann

The Snowbelt Chapter has been
absent from these pages with apologies,
but now offers this abridged
Òyear in reviewÓ of our activities for
2017.

Our first event of the year was held
May 20 at the Burnsville, MN, home of
Jock and Susan Holmen. Although the
HolmenÕs do not own any automatic
musical instruments, they are no less
involved in our organization. With
his Scandinavian heritage, Jock is an
expert wood carver whose business
card heralds him as Òthe Norwegian
Termite.Ó Jock has repaired many
carvings on instruments and carved
complete figures for numerous MBSI
clients. The SanFilippo collection is
one site that has benefited from JockÕs
woodworking expertise.

Members in attendance had an
opportunity to try their hands at
carving and the rudimentary skill was
not as difficult as expected. However,
it was clear that it would take many
hours of practice to come even close
to JockÕs level of experience. As we
paused for dinner, the crowd was
tickled to see that even the lemonadeÕs
garnish of sliced lemons were miniature
sculptures!

Members were invited to bring a

Jock Holmen demonstrates carving for an interested crowd.

Even the lemons were carved by ÒThe
Norwegian TermiteÓ Jock Holmen.

Show and tell (from left to right) Mike Merrick, Ralph Schultz, Gary Goldsmith, Carol
Schultz, and Merrie Tolzmann enjoy the show.

Our May meeting hosts, Susan and Jock Holmen. Ralph Schultz and his steam-operated Gem Roller Organ.

small show and tell item. The instruments
brought and demonstrated
included a Pell Monkey Organ, a QRS
Rollmonica, and a Thorens 4.-inch
Music Box. The show and tell inspired
member Alex Stolitza to start collecting
small musical boxes.

Snowbelters Tom Chase and Tom
Kuehn were featured in the Spring
2017 edition of Minnesota Alumni,
the quarterly magazine for University
of Minnesota graduates. The article
highlighted the restoration work the
two Toms are doing on coin-operated
pianos. Tom Chase is currently a
faculty member in the universityÕs
mechanical engineering department
and Tom Kuehn retired from the
department last spring after 33 years
of teaching.

While the article offers only a rudimentary
look at the hobby of restoring
mechanical musical instruments, it
reaches a wide readership who may
be enticed to our hobby and may
explore potential membership in our
organization. To see the complete
article, go to the magazineÕs website
and search for the Spring 2017 issue.
(The story begins on page 10.) See the
magazine at https://umnalumni.org/
MN-Mag-Issue-Archive.

Our congratulations were extended
to long-time Snowbelt member and
MBSI Trustee Tom Kuehn as he was
united in marriage to Hongyan He on
Jun. 10. The happy couple took up
residence at TomÕs Mahtomedi, MN,
home following a honeymoon trip to
Hawaii.

Hongyan He and Tom Kuehn, now Mr.
and Mrs. Kuehn

Our mid-summer gathering took
place on Aug. 13 at the Belle Plaine,
MN, home of Ralph and Carol Schultz.
The Schultz collection is no stranger
to our chapter and members throughout
the MBSI. From the first (and
one of the smallest) instruments in
the collection, a Gem Roller Organ
that Ralph operates via a small steam
engine Ð another of RalphÕs interests

Ð to the largest, the Prinsen book-operated
organ and the trailered Stinson 47
band organ, the appreciative audience
had many musical delights to behold.
Our congratulations were extended
once again to Tom Kuehn who was
elected vice president of the Musical
Box Society International at its
annual meeting in New Jersey. We
look forward to his reports on society
activities from a whole new angle.

MinnesotaÕs sometimes unpredictable
weather conditions found us
concluding our year with an early
holiday meeting, held on Nov. 19 at
Lawrence and Phyllis CrawfordÕs

Rich Poppe with two of SchultzÕs Prinsen
organs.

ÒCrystal Homewood StudioÓ in
Arlington, MN. Special accolades go
the CrawfordÕs as Lawrence was still
recovering from recent knee replacement
surgery that proved to be a bit
problematic early on. Fortunately,
he was pretty much back on his feet
in time for the meeting, and Ralph
Schultz lent a hand in demonstrating
the instruments.

The CrawfordÕs collection is primarily
made up of musical boxes from
LawrenceÕs late parents, F. Richard
and Esther Crawford, who were
founding members of the MBSI. The
collection is one of the last intact
collections from a founding member
and features instruments described

38 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

Ralph Schultz demonstrates a bell box for an attentive crowd. Carol and Ralph Schultz, hosts of our August event.

Lawrence and Phyllis Crawford, November hosts, at the con-
The CrawfordÕs ÒCrystal Homewood StudioÓ music room. sole of their Wurlitzer Theater Organ.

in a 1938 article by L. G. Jaccards installed in the Homewood Theatre concert featured seasonal tunes by
that had inspired Richard to start the in Minneapolis. Lawrence purchased numerous artists who had performed
collection. the organ 46 years ago and has built on the Crawford organ over the past

The largest Ð and loudest Ð instru-it into the magnificent instrument that several years.
ment in the collection is the 3/24 we heard that day. The instrument is Snowbelt wishes everyone a Happy
Wurlitzer Theater Pipe Organ, Opus truly an automatic one as it can be New Year and promises to be more

916. The organ began as a two-man-played using software tied into the up-to-date in sharing our chapter
ual, six-rank instrument originally computer-based relay system. Our activities!
WE WANT YOUR STORY!

Every mechanical musical instrument has a tale to tell. Share the history of people
who owned your instrument before you, or the story of its restoration, or just what
makes it an interesting piece. Send stories via email to editor@mbsi.org or
mail your story to Iron Dog Media, 130 Coral Court, Pismo Beach, CA 93449

March/April 2018 MECHANICAL MUSIC 39

Southern California Chapter

Chapter Chair: Robin Biggins

Reporter: Linda Birkitt
Photographer: Ed Cooley

Dec. 10, 2017 Ð Van Nuys, CA

As our get-together was in progress,
the Thomas Fire in Ventura, CA, was
raging. The fire was the largest wildfire
in recorded history in the state.
Fortunately for us, the joint meeting
between AMICA and MBSI was held,
partly, in a very different venue. The
event was held at Roger George Rentals
in Van Nuys, CA.

The owners of Roger George Rentals,
Thaine Morris and his wife, were
excellent hosts for this most novel
of Christmas gatherings. We were

Howard and Betty Green near one of the huge CNC machines in the Roger George
Rentals shop building.

treated to a tour of the facility, which
provides special physical effects for
the movie industry, theatrical performances,
TV shows, and theme parks.
If actors need to be ÒshotÓ during a
performance, Roger George Rentals
supplies the fake blood required,
producing very realistic results. If a
wind, or fog, or rain is required for
a performance, this company can
supply these special effects too. If
a scene calls for a realistic looking
fire, the MorrisÕ company can make
a fake blaze look very real on film or
on stage. In addition, if an actor must
break through a ÒglassÓ window, a

Guests take a tour of the special effects warehouse.

Thaine Miller demonstrates his Calliope. MBSI and AMICA members outside the Nix ÒMusik Haus.Ó

Guests gather in the NixÕs music room to enjoy tunes.

Host Frank Nix plays the Frati trumpet organ.

Frank opens the door on a Regina automatic changer.

special type of plastic glass made by the company is used.

Thaine is a licensed pyrotechnician and plies his craft as
needed. In the shop building area of the facility, there were
a variety of CNC (computer numerical control) machines
and laser cutting tools used for milling, grinding, cutting,
routing, and lathing the needed products. These machines
are used to create one-of-a-kind effects as might be

The facade of the R. Duwyn orchestrion makes a gorgeous
backdrop.

Guests enjoy the upstairs music collection at the Nix home.

The beautiful 80-key Mortier has had another four ranks of
pipes installed recently.

March/April 2018 MECHANICAL MUSIC 41

Christian Eric demonstrates machines in the Nix music room.

Guests enjoy a wonderful spread for lunch.

required for many purposes in the entertainment industry.
The company supplies both local and international clients.

After the tour, our group drove to the lovely home of
Frank Nix. Frank had prepared a bountiful buffet for our
groups. He then generously opened up his homes to the
members of MBSI and AMICA for an afternoon of upbeat
music. For an added bit of fun Frank had decorated all
the rooms appropriate to the Christmas season. The Welte
orchestrion and the Mills double violano were popular
instruments as demonstrated by the number of people who
congregated to listen to them play. Automaton monkeys
and miniature miners were a delight to the grandchildren
of Chris and Kathleen Eric who joined us for the afternoon.
FrankÕs upstairs display of disc and cylinder boxes was, as
always, a delight to experience.

The combined music aficionado groups are fortunate to
have Frank as such a gracious host, and we all thank him
for his hospitality.

There was no TreasurerÕs report as Bob Lloyd was not
present. There were no new members or guests reported
at this event.

More of the music boxes on display in the upstairs music
room.

Don Henry leads the AMICA business meeting.

Robin Biggins leads the business meeting for the MBSI chap-
ter members.

42 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

Northwest International Chapter

A view from the hotel of beautiful Cowichan Bay.

Chapter Chair: Dale Tyvand
Reporter: Rick Swaney
Photographers: Dale Tyvand and Rick
Swaney

Oct. 10-11, 2017 Ð Cowichan Bay, BC
Dec. 2, 2017 Ð Sammamish, WA

Due to the unpredictable weather,
the Northwest International Chapter
does not hold a meeting during the
winter months. So, I will take this
opportunity to catch up with reports
on our 2017 Fall meetings.

The first meeting was held in October
in Cowichan Bay on Vancouver
Island, Canada. It was hosted by residents
Lesley and David Evans. Most
of the non-islander attendees took a
ferry from the Tsawwassen Terminal
(just north of the Canadian border)
to reach the island. We found some
adjoining tables in the ferry restaurant
where we had a group lunch to help

Learning about Bald Eagles at The Raptors.

pass the two-hour transit time.

We independently made our ways to
the Ocean Front Suites in Cowichan,
then regrouped in the evening for
dinner at the hotel restaurant. David
and Lesley joined us for dinner, then

invited us to come to their home for
dessert and coffee.

The next morning, after a group
breakfast, we drove a short distance
to The Raptors, a center dedicated to
the conservation and management of

birds of prey. We had a guided tour of
the facility followed by a flying demonstration
by several birds, including an
eagle, falcon, and vulture. As advertised,
it was a very close encounter
with the birds.

Then it was back to EvanÕs home
for a satisfying luncheon prepared by
Lesley. Following lunch, Dale Tyvand
chaired our business meeting for just
over an hour. The current chapter
officers were unanimously reelected
for another term. David and Lesley
provided information about the Magic
Lantern International Conference to
be held in Victoria, BC, in April. The
NWI Chapter was invited to attend,
and we decided to hold our spring
meeting in conjunction with the
conference.

After the business meeting, David
guided us downstairs for a tour of
his and LesleyÕs collection. There are
three rooms downstairs packed full
of automatic music. The instruments
are from a museum that the Evans
ran in Revelstoke, BC, before they
decided to relocate to Cowichan Bay.
Most impressive is the collection of
19th-century barrel organs and pianos.
Another room houses many music
boxes and an Aeolian Orchestrelle
reed organ on which David played a
roll. The last room contains several
pianos and nickelodeons.

The final event of our fall meeting
was dinner at the nearby Pioneer
House Restaurant, a family restaurant
with a rustic, log cabin atmosphere.

The chapter members came together
again in early December for our
annual Christmas Cookie Exchange.
The venue was Rick SwaneyÕs home in
Sammamish, WA. Fourteen members
attended, each bringing a plate of
cookies or other holiday goodies to
share. Rick provided a lunch of soup,
pasta and green salads, and a choice
of several kinds of sandwiches. Lunch
was preceded by an hour of socializing
and consumption of a traditional
warm wassail.

After the luncheon we all sampled
the assortment of goodies that had
been brought. There was a sufficient
quantity that everyone could also take
goodies home for later snacking.

We donÕt conduct a business meeting

A very close encounter with a Turkey Vulture.

A group photo of the survivors of our Raptors tour.

Guests enjoying a tune from one of the EvanÕs Nickelodeons.

44 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

Conducting chapter business in the EvanÕs living room. Dinner at the Pioneer House Restaurant.

Irv Eacrett demonstrates an animated, musical fire truck
during show and tell.

as part of our cookie exchange meetings, but we did have
our usual show and tell session. Annie Tyvand showed the
progress she is making on a stained-glass art project. Irv
Eacrett showed a small musical fire truck that raises and
lowers its ladder as it rolls along. Rick took us through
the house to play his newest music boxes: one with bells
and a drum, and another with a reed organ. We also spent
a fair amount of time playing with an Amazon Echo. Its
breadth of knowledge was impressive, ranging from math
and science to geography to movies and music.

The meeting concluded with a few magic tricks from
RickÕs repertoire.

Wassail and conversion before the holiday luncheon.

RickÕs Violano gets a close inspection.

March/April 2018 MECHANICAL MUSIC 45

National Capital Chapter

Chapter Chair: Matt Jaro
Reporters: Donna and Gene Borrelli
Photographers: Gene Borrelli and Paul
Senger

Dec. 3, 2017 Ð Annapolis, MD

The National Capital Chapter held
its holiday meeting on Sunday, Dec. 3,
at the house of Cheryl and Dick Hack,
which is on the western shore of the
Chesapeake Bay in Annapolis, MD.
There were 73 people in attendance,
including 17 guests. Some came from
as far away as the United Kingdom,
Oregon, Illinois and New York. We
were treated to a catered luncheon
followed by a business meeting.

The business meeting centered
around plans for the 2019 MBSI Annual
Convention which will be hosted

Guest Dana Cohen and Cheryl listen to the Ramey Banjo-Orchestra.

New member Rick Shindle and Bob Barnette listen to the newly arrived Ramey Banjo-Orchestra.

John Rutoskey, James Huffer, Jerry Biasella, Dennis Elza, and James Huffer and Jerry Biasella answer questions from
Marty Persky visit in the music room with the Mortier organ in Fred Younkins about the Ruth Model 36 Organ Dick Hack is
the background. refurbishing.

Dick Hack plays the Hupfield Phonoliszt Violina for Dave
Calendine, Jerry Biasella, Russel Wattam and Bill Wineburgh.

Dick answers questions from Sy Epstein about the Phonoliszt.
Wyatt Markus, Margie Epstein, Fred Younkins, Kristin and
Francis Larsen and Karen Younkins (L to R) look on.

Tom Larsen and Dick Hack in front of the beautiful Bursens Marty Persky, Jerry Biasella and James Huffer visiting from
CafŽ Organ Chicago.

March/April 2018 MECHANICAL MUSIC 47

by the National Capital Chapter and
held Aug. 27ÐSept. 1. While we canÕt
disclose details, the table favor will be
something special!

Following the business meeting
Dick and Cheryl demonstrated
their collection to members. The
Hacks have an extensive collection
of mechanical music. It includes
a variety of nickelodeons, organs,
orchestrions, pianos, music boxes,
phonographs, jukeboxes, and movie
jukeboxes. Some of the larger pieces
are a Weber Unika, Hupfeld Phonoliszt
Violina, Seeburg G Orchestrion, Welte
Orchestrion, Wurlitzer CX Orchestrion
with added bells, Wurlitzer 153
Band Organ, Davrainville Clockwork
Barrel Organ, Regina Hexaphone
Phonograph, Decap 92 key Dance
Organ, Mortier Organ, Mills Violano
with Drum box, Mills Panoram movie
jukebox, Polyphon 15.-inch musical
tall clock, Wurlitzer Model B Harp
reproduction built by Dick, and Link
2E Nickelodeon. A recent acquisition
is a Banjo-Orchestra manufactured
by the D.C. Ramey Piano Company of
Chicago, IL. Also, a long-term project
of DickÕs is now functioning, a Ruth
model 36 German fairground organ
that plays book music.

We thank Cheryl and Dick for hosting
our Holiday Party for the seventh
straight year.

Ed Borrelli takes minutes as Matt Jaro conducts the fun business meeting. Donald
Durand and Glenn Thomas look on.

Dave Calendine, Sally Craig, Zach Wojtan and Wyatt Markus listen to the Wurlitzer
Model B Harp that Dick built years ago for CherylÕs birthday.

Members check in and visit before lunch in the large living room.

48 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

Mid-America Chapter

Chair: Rob Pollock
Reporter: Bob Ebert
Photographer: Bob Ebert

December-January Ð Elyria, OH

A 1890s mansion, known locally as
the Hickories and once the home of
industrialist Arthur Garford in Elyria,
OH, served as an ideal setting for
the Dec. 1, 2017-Jan. 13, 2018 music
box holiday display sponsored by
the Lorain County Historical Society.
Organized by MBSI members Marcia
and Bob Ebert, the display featured 11
music boxes. Eight of the 11 boxes at
the event came from the collections
of Mid-America Chapter members
Harold Wade, of Medina, OH; Jack and
Muriel Greenleaf of Avon Lake, OH;
and the Eberts of North Ridgeville, OH.
Also, historical society staff members
Bill and Janet Bird displayed two of
their boxes. A highlight of the event
was the formal unveiling of a 15.
inch Regina single comb box, recently
donated to the historical society,
which now is on permanent display
in the Hickories mansion. Visitors to
the music box holiday event saw and
heard demonstrations of four cylinder
boxes, two roller organs, and five disc
boxes.

Nearly 100 people toured the music
box holiday display while it was
operational. An additional 115 people
who were attending a holiday gala
at the mansion were also treated to
the delightful sounds of the music
boxes. Historical society docents
and volunteers served as guides who
demonstrated each of the music boxes
to the guests touring the mansion.
The music boxes were distributed
throughout the mansion in rooms that
seemed appropriate to the style of
music box displayed there.

Especially gratifying was the number
of non-members who, in response
to publicity in the local press, came
to see and hear the music boxes. As

Bob Ebert demonstrating the Regina from the Historical Society Collection to a
group touring the collection.

a result, in addition to the music mission of the Lorain County Histor-
boxes, those visiting the display were ical Society. Visitors to the display
exposed to the glamour and beauty were a cross section of ages and gen-
of the Hickories mansion and the der and included school-age children

who were especially intrigued by the
sounds and operation of mechanical
musical instruments.

This was the second time in five
years such an event has been held at
the Hickories mansion. Particularly
interesting is the number of people
in the community who, having visited
the display in 2012, asked on occasion
when another music box holiday
event would be held. We were pleased
to respond to that community interest
during the holiday season of 20172018.
Hopefully, the experience of
MBSI members working together with
the Lorain County Historical Society
on the music box holiday event will
encourage others to organize similar
displays of music boxes to bring the
joys and beauty of mechanical music
to other communities in the future.

The Regina disc box of the Historical SocietyÕs collection with Society President
Jackie Kokai (left) and Executive Director Kerri Broome (right).

A Gem Roller Organette loaned by Jack Greenleaf being
demonstrated by Marcia Ebert.

A Euterpephon disc box loaned by Harold Wade being demon-
strated by Marcia and Bob Ebert.

Janet and Bill Bird demonstrating
the Baker Troll cylinder music box
they lent to the exhibit.

50 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

In Memoriam In Memoriam
Luuk Goldhoorn

Sept. 12, 1929 Ð Dec. 12, 2017

By Beatrice Farmer

It is with deep sadness I must report
that one of the most outstanding and
prolific contributors to the knowledge
and history of musical boxes, Luuk
Goldhoorn, has died. He was 88 years
old.

Luuk lived his entire life in the
Netherlands, most of it in Utrecht. He
spent his working years with a major
insurance company.

Luuk was quite a private person, so I
was surprised to find a biography written
by him in 2004 on my computer. In
LuukÕs own words:

ÒCollecting has always been part of
my life. It started a very long time ago
with matchboxes, and it developed
through postage stamps, postal history
and culminated in my love for
musical boxes. But not all. Only the
small, and if possible the very early
ones have stolen my heart.

ÒI like to hunt for items for my
collection, but I like as much the
studying of original sources. And
as a normal Dutch education in the
1940s included knowledge of not only
English but also French and German,
I was able to study the archives from
the late Pierre Germain in Geneva,
and in Le Locle those of Alfred Chapuis.
In Germany, I tried to find more
about the history of the disc-playing
box manufacturers, but it turned
out be a very difficult task. The war
had destroyed many, many archives.
Browsing through libraries in various
European cities revealed quite
a number of hardly known articles
about my hobby.

Luuk Goldhoorn

ÒPointing myself to Prague and
Vienna taught me quite a lot about
the Austrian makers, and as a result
a book was published. The most
exciting experience was the acquaintance
of the granddaughter of Gustav
Rebicek. That led to more knowledge
of the people who made musical boxes
in that part of Europe.Ó

I had the privilege of traveling with
Luuk for five years, six months in
Europe and six months in the U.S. We
visited many of the major collections
on our travels from the Netherlands
to Switzerland and from Florida to
Vancouver, Canada. We were allowed
to play every musical box in the Baud
Museum. Luuk had a particularly good
relationship with the Museum Speelklok
in Utrecht. At one point, after we
had gazed into the glass cases for
some period of time, the late Jan Jaap
Haspels came into the room, handed
Luuk a large keyring, and told us to
help ourselves. He locked the door

as he left and we spent several hours,
playing everything in the room. Many
items hadnÕt been played in years. And
we visited several collections that
were unknown to most collectors.

In LÕAuberson, Switzerland, we accidentally
met the owner of the Cuendet
musical box workshop as we were
walking with Denis Margot. He invited
us to see his factory, where most things
were still in the same places as they
had been before Reuge had purchased
the company. I admired a high pile of
Òassembly boxesÓ Ð the boxes parts
were put into to take to workersÕ homes
for assembly. He asked if we would like
to have one and we, of course, replied
yes. He insisted on going through much
of the pile, looking for a box that had
writing on the inside. In the process,
he found a musical movement that
had been overlooked and insisted we
take them both. I had been videotaping
our visit and he was fascinated by the
movie. Luuk asked to pay for the boxes
and he said no Ð I think we almost
offended him.

Luuk and I traveled many miles
together in Europe and the U.S. as we
searched out collectors and museums
that had mechanical music collections.
It was great fun to enter a museum
and have the curator immediately
take us to the storeroom or workshop
to show us a recent acquisition or
unusual item. Luuk was well known
and respected wherever we went. He
spent a great deal of time in Austria
while he researched for his book, ÒDie
Osterreichische SpielwerkemanufakturÓ
and the director of the museum

GOLDHOORN | See Page 52

March/April 2018 MECHANICAL MUSIC 51

Remembering Luuk Goldhoorn

By Kathleen and Christian Eric

We donÕt remember when we first
met Luuk Goldhoorn, but it is likely
that he was brought to our music box
workshop and museum by Beatrice
Farmer, a fellow music box collector
who has similar tastes in early
mechanical music. As is often the
case, those who have similar interests
will inevitably find one another. Even
if you join a club that is dedicated to a
specific item, in this instance antique
music boxes, you will find that there
are mini-groups within the larger
membership. This is because we as
individuals, all gravitate toward specific
instruments and eras. In our case
Luuk, Beatrice, Christian and myself
all love the early, and often unusual,
music box movements. We are very
passionate about these early items and
found when we met Luuk that he felt
the same way. I might also mention
that he was a very opinionated fellow,
and as the other three members of
our little group have our own strong

GOLDHOORN | From Page 51

in Vienna was especially glad to see
him, since they had recently acquired
a very unusual musical clock. He gave
an interesting talk on Austrian Musical
Boxes at the MBSI Annual Meeting in
Baltimore, MD.

The following quote is from an
obituary item by Niko Wiegman, a
longtime friend of LuukÕs:

ÒHis interest was not how expensive
or large a musical box was,

but the story behind it was the most
important for him. It gave him great
pleasure to share that story with
other collectors, and we can find his
writing in many of the well-known
magazines.

ÒHe always wanted to see and check
the original source himself and that
took much travel and detective work.
I remember the first time I visited
him back in 1979, he had copied
everything the Dutch patent office and
national library had on the subject Ð
in my memory an enormous stack of

papers. Now all that can be found easily
on the Internet, but in those days
it was hard work behind microfilm
viewers and copying machines.Ó

Luuk was a very private person and
seldom invited anyone into his home.
He had a very specialized collection,
mostly very early and often unique
musical items. It was a great privilege
to know Luuk well, and to share many
excursions to see a particular musical
box or a massive collection. Rest in
Peace, my friend.

Condolences

Our condolences and deepest
sympathies go to the family and friends
of MBSI member Ricky Sherman who
recently passed away.

We have also received word that
Connie Ribe, wife of Bertil Ribe, died

opinions, our visit was quite lively.

Years passed, and we corresponded,
and eventually found ourselves being
called upon to edit some of LuukÕs
articles for Mechanical Music. As
Luuk was always quite definite about
what he intended to say when he was
discussing some unusual music box
item, it was often a challenge to translate
his interesting use of English, and
the often-confusing technical terms
that donÕt translate easily from Dutch
into English.

In the last years of our relationship,
he was always grateful for our helping
to put his words into ÒAmerican
English,Ó but he remained straightforward
in his opinion about what
he wanted to say and how it should
be said. He worked very hard on
these articles, and did some excellent
research that he enjoyed sharing with
all music box collectors.

These past few years we could tell
LuukÕs eyesight was becoming a problem
because the typeface in his emails
was becoming very large. He never

on Nov. 14, 2017, and was buried on
Dec. 1 in S¿ller¿d church-yard close
to her parents. Bertil says he and
Connie very much enjoyed the annual
meetings they attended in Florida,
Washington, Chicago and North Carolina.
Our condolences and deepest

discussed it, nor complained, but it
must have been difficult to research
then, and even more annoying to write
articles.

In one of our last communications
he was responding to me regarding
my hearing from a fellow collector
about the recent article he had written
and we edited. This collector told me
how interesting the article was to
her, and so I related this to Luuk. He
grumpily responded that he had written
many articles and never gotten
any responses! Harrumph. I am very
happy that, even if it was second hand
that he finally knew that his articles
were read and enjoyed by many of his
fellow collectors.

We are going to miss him. He was
one of a kind. Rest in peace Luuk, you
cranky, opinionated, often cantankerous,
but always interesting fellow.
There is a large void now in the world
of those who forged on in the difficult
work of researching antique music
boxes. We thank you for sharing your
hard work with all of us.

sympathies are extended to Bertil and
family, as well as friends of Connie.

Our condolences and deepest
sympathies also go to the family and
friends of MBSI member Dolly Seibert
who recently passed away.

52 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

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54 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

Chet Ramsay
Antiques

Complete Restoration
Services Available.

Specializing in Music Boxes

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Come visit our Victorian
showroom and workshop

East Fallowfield Twp.
2460 Strasburg Road
Coatesville, PA 19320

2 miles south of Coatesville

610-384-0514

Showroom open by appointment

2017 MBSI Annual Meeting Table Favors

Representation of a Regina disc player with two tunes available: ÒWhistle a Happy
TuneÓ and ÒEnglish Country Garden.Ó When the key is wound, the tune plays and the
disc turns. $25 each, inclding shipping to the continental U.S. Shipping elsewhere is

subject actual shipping charges. Accepted forms of payment are PayPal, check,
and money order. Contact Bill Guimes at bill.guimes@gmail.com or call (908)
850-1986 and leave a message.Will make a nice addition to your table favor

collection. Will make an unusual holiday gift. Only 60 of each tune left!!

56 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

Loesche Model 2 (Titania)
Peerless
Nickelodeon
Regina Style 35
Corona Automatic
Changer
Columbia Grafina
Console Phonograph
Mills Single
Violano
Victor Style V
Phonograph
Wurlitzer Style 50
Kiddie Band Organ
Wurlitzer
Pianino
National Piano
Seeburg KT
Special
Seeburg K
Nelson Wiggen
Nickelodeon
Seeburg KT
Special Mutoscope
Berry Wood
Auto Electric
Cabinet Grand
Please contact Dan at (949) 375 -2932 for pricing McAlister Collection
Loesche Model 2 (Titania)
Peerless
Nickelodeon
Regina Style 35
Corona Automatic
Changer
Columbia Grafina
Console Phonograph
Mills Single
Violano
Victor Style V
Phonograph
Wurlitzer Style 50
Kiddie Band Organ
Wurlitzer
Pianino
National Piano
Seeburg KT
Special
Seeburg K
Nelson Wiggen
Nickelodeon
Seeburg KT
Special Mutoscope
Berry Wood
Auto Electric
Cabinet Grand
Please contact Dan at (949) 375 -2932 for pricing McAlister Collection

Presented by A & S Antique Auction Co., LLC. – 900 E. Loop 340, Waco, Texas
Dan Hardesty

(1936-2015)

Over 700 items, to include pieces from the Estate of the late Dan Hardesty, (1936-2015), avid and
nationally known collector, formerly of Franklin, PA. As well as items from avid western, vintage Lawman Badge
and firearm collector George Jackson.

Mr. Hardesty is known to have collected many models and styles of antique Music Boxes and Horn Disc Players,
to include Regina, Stella, Victor, Columbia, Puritan in Bombay oak case, Edison Players including the Triumph
model with oak horn, plus other oak horn players, several ornate oak Music Cabinets, bow bottom Music Chairs.
Mr. HardestyÕs collection will also feature many fine antique clocks, including Double Dials, Calendar, Ansonia
Crystal Clocks, Statue Clocks, Grandfather Clocks and others.

Firearms to include: Fine factory engraved Henry Lever Action Rifle, many Winchester Lever Action Rifles, Colt
Dragoons, Army and Navy Revolvers. Collection of vintage Law Enforcement Badges, Artifacts from the Civil
War Era, beautiful Antique Furniture and Lighting.

OVER 700 ITEMS IN THIS INCREDIBLE 2-DAY SALE.

We will offer a 200-plus page, full color catalog, giving sale order, great photographs and descriptions. Catalogs are $25.00 and
includes priority shipping, and will be mailed first of March. You may bid In-House, Phone, Absentee or On-Line. See catalog for
further instructions and Bid Form. Call 254-799-6044 to order your catalog or mail your check to

A & S Auction Co., LLC, 900 E. Loop 340, Waco, Texas, 76705.

Several oak horn
players
Many music stands
Regina Coin – Op
Paper Mache
with moving
eyes and ear
Key wind with two singing
birds
Fine oak Puritan in oak
Bombay case
Large Clock Collection
Two size Regina music
boxes in carved cases
Handel Desk lamp

Auctioneer Scott Franks TXS 7222 aS&Auction W aco ,T exa s
L.L.C.
www.ASAuction.com – 254-799-6044
Early key wind
with moving eyes
One of many players
Monumental Black Forrest clock set
Large collection of incredible
carved furniture
Regina style 140
Auctioneer Scott Franks TXS 7222 aS&Auction W aco ,T exa s
L.L.C.
www.ASAuction.com – 254-799-6044
Early key wind
with moving eyes
One of many players
Monumental Black Forrest clock set
Large collection of incredible
carved furniture
Regina style 140

AUCTIONEERS & REALTORSSTANTONÕSStantonÕs Auctioneers, Appraisers,
& Realtors
144 S. Main, P.O. Box 146
Vermontville, MI 49096
Phone: (517) 726-0181
Fax: (517) 726-0060
E-mail: stantonsauctions@sbcglobal.net
Website: www.stantons-auctions.com
Steven E. Stanton
(517) 331-8150 cellular
(517) 852-0627 evening
E-mail Ð stevenEstanton@gmail.com
Michael C. Bleisch
(517) 231-0868 cellular
E-mail Ð mcbleisch@gmail.com
Thursday, Friday and Saturday, APRIL 26, 27, & 28, 2018
Thursday begins at 12:00 Noon with the Luncheon followed by the Auction starting at 1 P.M.
FridayÕs and SaturdayÕs Auctions start at 9:00 A.M.
PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE OF LOCATION & DATES
To be held on the BARRY COUNTY Fairgrounds, at 1350 N. M-37 Highway, Hastings, MichiganThe fairgrounds are 6 miles northwest of Hastings, or 27 miles southeast of Grand Rapids and theGerald R. Ford International Airport on M-37.
STANTONÕS AUCTION of
AUTOMATIC MUSICAL MACHINES
The auction already includes the Rorrer Collection with a Rare Victor Auxetophone, A Victor VI phonograph with
matching mahogany cabinet with gold Corinthian columns, a fine Reginaphone Style 150 serpentine case 15-1/2Ó disc
music box with nickel horn for playing music box and phonograph records, other music boxes, band organs, Symphonion
grandfatherÕs clock with music box, many rare examples, and an excellent selection of phonographs of all types. Also
from other fine estates and collections are excellent music boxes including three (3) interchangeable cylinder boxes
with matching inlaid tables having bells, etc. as well as an excellent Cylinder clock front box, Capital Cuff box restored
by Porter, Raffin street organ, Avery desirable Symphonion disc Christmas tree stand and music box with bells, Regina
20-3/4 and 27Ó casket model music boxes, and lots more.
We are accepting additional collections and items for our sale, call for information on participating.
We offer a full-service operation that is completely insured, our rates are competitive, and we have a
background in this field that exceeds others selling items of this type. Also, the buyerÕs premium charged at our
auctions is one of the lowest in the nation…which is extremely advantageous to both sellers and buyers alike.
Plan on contacting us to discuss our travel schedule and have your items included in our upcomingevent. Our present trips will be taking us to the west coast, south and southeast, Midwest and of course
the east coast. Make sure to benefit from the national and international advertising that will done be
over the course of the next six months, in print, newspapers, specialty publications, direct mailings, andthrough online technology.
Area Hotel Accommodations Ð Holiday Inn Express, 1099 W. M-43 Highway, Hastings, Michigan Ð 269-
945-0000; Parkview Motel, 429 N. Broadway Street, Hastings, Michigan Ð 269-945-9511; Adrounie House
Bed & Breakfast, 1265 S. Broadway Street, Hastings, Michigan Ð (269) 945-0678; Bay Pointe Inn, 11456
Marsh Road, Shelbyville, Michigan Ð 269-672-8111 (12 miles to auction site), www.baypointeinn.com.
Steven E. Stanton ¥ (517) 331-8150 cellular ¥ Email stevenEstanton@gmail.com
AUCTIONEERS & REALTORSSTANTONÕSStantonÕs Auctioneers, Appraisers,
& Realtors
144 S. Main, P.O. Box 146
Vermontville, MI 49096
Phone: (517) 726-0181
Fax: (517) 726-0060
E-mail: stantonsauctions@sbcglobal.net
Website: www.stantons-auctions.com
Steven E. Stanton
(517) 331-8150 cellular
(517) 852-0627 evening
E-mail Ð stevenEstanton@gmail.com
Michael C. Bleisch
(517) 231-0868 cellular
E-mail Ð mcbleisch@gmail.com
Thursday, Friday and Saturday, APRIL 26, 27, & 28, 2018
Thursday begins at 12:00 Noon with the Luncheon followed by the Auction starting at 1 P.M.
FridayÕs and SaturdayÕs Auctions start at 9:00 A.M.
PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE OF LOCATION & DATES
To be held on the BARRY COUNTY Fairgrounds, at 1350 N. M-37 Highway, Hastings, MichiganThe fairgrounds are 6 miles northwest of Hastings, or 27 miles southeast of Grand Rapids and theGerald R. Ford International Airport on M-37.
STANTONÕS AUCTION of
AUTOMATIC MUSICAL MACHINES
The auction already includes the Rorrer Collection with a Rare Victor Auxetophone, A Victor VI phonograph with
matching mahogany cabinet with gold Corinthian columns, a fine Reginaphone Style 150 serpentine case 15-1/2Ó disc
music box with nickel horn for playing music box and phonograph records, other music boxes, band organs, Symphonion
grandfatherÕs clock with music box, many rare examples, and an excellent selection of phonographs of all types. Also
from other fine estates and collections are excellent music boxes including three (3) interchangeable cylinder boxes
with matching inlaid tables having bells, etc. as well as an excellent Cylinder clock front box, Capital Cuff box restored
by Porter, Raffin street organ, Avery desirable Symphonion disc Christmas tree stand and music box with bells, Regina
20-3/4 and 27Ó casket model music boxes, and lots more.
We are accepting additional collections and items for our sale, call for information on participating.
We offer a full-service operation that is completely insured, our rates are competitive, and we have a
background in this field that exceeds others selling items of this type. Also, the buyerÕs premium charged at our
auctions is one of the lowest in the nation…which is extremely advantageous to both sellers and buyers alike.
Plan on contacting us to discuss our travel schedule and have your items included in our upcomingevent. Our present trips will be taking us to the west coast, south and southeast, Midwest and of course
the east coast. Make sure to benefit from the national and international advertising that will done be
over the course of the next six months, in print, newspapers, specialty publications, direct mailings, andthrough online technology.
Area Hotel Accommodations Ð Holiday Inn Express, 1099 W. M-43 Highway, Hastings, Michigan Ð 269-
945-0000; Parkview Motel, 429 N. Broadway Street, Hastings, Michigan Ð 269-945-9511; Adrounie House
Bed & Breakfast, 1265 S. Broadway Street, Hastings, Michigan Ð (269) 945-0678; Bay Pointe Inn, 11456
Marsh Road, Shelbyville, Michigan Ð 269-672-8111 (12 miles to auction site), www.baypointeinn.com.
Steven E. Stanton ¥ (517) 331-8150 cellular ¥ Email stevenEstanton@gmail.com

My 50thAnniversary thAnniversary
Serving the wonderful world of music boxes!

To celebrate 50 years of meeting and helping some of the greatest people
in the world obtain or repair their treasures, I am giving away this
lovely crystal case 50 note Sankyomusic box!

For every music box purchase ororder received throughout 2018,
I will put that customerÕs name on an Ôentry formÕ. On Thanksgiving
(in November) I will draw one name who will receive this gorgeous box
in time for the holidays!

I will also be giving a for 5% discounton all supply/disc orders
the rest of the year as my continuing Ôthank youÕ to my customers for
helping this happen!

Nancy Fratti Music Boxes

PO Box 400 Ð Canastota NY 13032 –315-684-9977

musicbox@frontiernet.net –www.nancyfrattimusicboxes.com

THE MART THE MART
CLASSIFIED ADS

¥ 47¢ per word
¥ ALL CAPS, italicized and bold
words: 60¢ each.
¥ Minimum Charge: $11 per ad.
¥ Limit: One ad in each category
¥ Format: See ads for style
¥ Restrictions: Ads are strictly
limited to mechanical musical
instruments and related items and
services
¥ MBSI memberÕs name must
appear in ad
¥ Non-members may advertise at the
rates listed plus a 10% surcharge
PLEASE NOTE:

The first two words (or more
at your choice) and the memberÕs
name will be printed in all caps/bold
and charged at 60¢ per word.

Mechanical Music

Mechanical Music is mailed to all
members at the beginning of every
odd month Ñ January, March, May,
July, September and November.

MBSI Advertising Statement

It is to be hereby understood
that the placing of advertisements
by members of the Society in this
publication does not constitute nor
shall be deemed to constitute any
endorsement or approval of the business
practices of advertisers. The
Musical Box Society International
accepts no liability in connection
with any business dealings between
members and such advertisers.

It is to be further understood that
members are to rely on their own
investigation and opinion regarding
the reputation and integrity of
advertisers in conducting such business
dealings with said advertisers.

FOR SALE
RESTORED MUSICAL BOXES Offering a
variety of antique musical boxes, discs,
orphan cylinders, reproducing piano rolls &
out of print books about mechanical music.
BILL WINEBURGH 973-927-0484 Web:
antiquemusicbox.us

THE GOLDEN AGE of AUTOMATIC MUSICAL
INSTRUMENTS By ART REBLITZ.
Award-winning classic that brings historical,
musical, and technical information to life
with hundreds of large, vivid color photos.
We guarantee youÕll find it to be one of the
most interesting, inspiring, informative books
you have in your libraryÐor your money back.
Everyone has been delighted, and some
readers have ordered several copies. Get
your copy today for $99 plus S/H. MECHANICAL
MUSIC PRESS-M, 70 Wild Ammonoosuc
Rd., Woodsville, NH 03785. (603) 747-2636.

http://www.mechanicalmusicpress.com

WE SELL MIDI files for all style of organs, and
Band Organ music rolls for all styles. Special
Release: Style 165 Roll No. 6855 Rag Roll
Arranged by Rich Olsen $85 + $5 S/H ÒNEW
Christmas rolls for style 165 Roll No. 6883
& 6884Ó Arranged by Andrew Park $85 + $5
S/H Call us to place your order or email us for
info on our music rolls & midi files. Contact:
ANDY ADAMS, (860) 261-5923, sales@
wurlitzerrolls.com, http://www.wurlitzerrolls.
com. Gold Leaf Galleries 410 Emmett St. Unit
86Bristol, CT 06010 United States

ADVERTISE IN THE MART! Email your ad
to editor@mbsi.org or call (253) 228-1634
to place your ad for the March/April 2018
issue.

Add a photo to your ad!

Photos are only $30 extra per issue.

Email editor@mbsi.org or
call (253) 228-1634 for more details.

Display Advertising Dimensions and Costs
Dimensions 1 issue 3 issues* 6 issues*
Back Cover 8.75Ó x 11.25Ó $600 $540 $510
Inside Covers 8.75Ó x 11.25Ó $450 $405 $383
Full Page 7.25Ó x 9.75Ó $290 $261 $246
Half Page 7.25Ó x 4.5Ó $160 $144 $136
Quarter Page 3.5Ó x 4.5Ó $90 $81 $77
Eighth Page 3.5Ó x 2.125Ó $50 $45 $43
Add a 10% surcharge to the prices shown above if you are not a member of MBSI.
*Display Discounts shown above are calculated as follows:
3 consecutive ads 10% Discount
6 consecutive ads 15% Discount

ALL ADS MUST BE PREPAID

We accept VISA/MC and Paypal.

ADVERTISING DEADLINES:

The 1st day of each even month:
Feb., Apr., Jun, Aug., Oct. and Dec.

Display ads may be submitted
camera-ready, as PDF files, or with
text and instructions. File submission
guidelines available on request.

Errors attributable to Mechanical
Music, and of a significant nature, will
be corrected in the following issue
without charge, upon notification.

Add a photo to your ad!

Photos are only $30 extra per issue.

Email editor@mbsi.org or

call (253) 228-1634 for more details.

SUBMIT ADS TO:

MBSI Ads
130 Coral Court
Pismo Beach, CA 93449
(253) 228-1634
Email: editor@mbsi.org

62 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

STYLE 40 Regina floor model in original surface
and excellent condition. Tiger mahogany,
double comb, short bedplate, great voice,
fast/slow lever; zither attachment and 54
discs. Originally owned and sold by Ruth
Bornand. Many Christmas carols. $4,450.
Pick up or you set up shipping. Contact: JOE
MOFFITT, Please call (914) 723-2139

WANTED
WANTED: ART Case Steinway Duo-Art & Raf-
fin Organ. Contact MARTY PERSKY at (847)
675-6144 or email Marty@MechMusic.com.

Advertise in The Mart

WANTED: REGINA 20-3/4 inch style 39
music box in good original condition. Also
interested in acquiring a Restored Mills violin.
Contact: DON KROENLEIN, (217) 620-8650,
fbac@one-eleven.net

NEED SOMEONE to repair a Regina disc player
within a reasonable drive of Collegeville, PA.
Please email me. Contact: TARA FLYNN,
(215) 570-5925, taralflynn@comcast.net

SERVICES
REPRODUCTION POLYPHON discs; Catalogs
available for 19 5/8Ó, 22 1/8Ó, and 24 1/2Ó.
DAVID CORKRUM 5826 Roberts Ave, Oakland,
CA 94605-1156, 510-569-3110,
www.polyphonmusic.com

SAVE $Õs on REUGE & THORENS MUSIC
BOX REPAIR & RESTORATION Ð MBSI
MEMBERS RECEIVE WHOLESALE PRICING.

35 + Years experience servicing all makes
& models of cylinder and disc music boxes,
bird boxes, bird cages, musical watches, Anri
musical figurines, et al. All work guaranteed.
WeÕre the only REUGE FACTORY AUTHORIZED
Parts & Repair Service Center for all of North

Have some spare parts or extra rolls taking up the space where you should be
installing your next acquisition?

Ready to trade up, but need to sell one of your current pieces first?
Get the word out to other collectors by advertising in The Mart, an effective
advertising tool at an inexpensive price.

Go online to place your advertisement at www.mbsi.org, fill out the form below,
or contact Russell Kasselman at (253) 228-1634 to get started.
You may also email advertisements to editor@mbsi.org

America. Contact: DON CAINE -The Music
Box Repair Center Unlimited, 24703 Pennsylvania
Ave., Lomita, CA 90717-1516. Phone:

(310) 534-1557 Email: MBRCU@AOL.COM.
On the Web: www.musicboxrepaircenter.com
WHISTLER, BIRD BOX & BIRD CAGE REPAIR

Re-feathering for bird boxes & bird cages.
Repairs to bird cages, bird boxes & whistlers.
Traditional bellows recovering & repair.
Replacing rubber bellows with our own custom
made diaphragms. Fax 843 285 – 5927
Email to: jrmackay@comcast.net Contact:
RUSS MACKAY, (843) 879-9447, jrmackay@
comcast.net 257 Okehampton Drive Goose
Creek, SC 29445 United States

Display Advertisers

2 Renaissance Antiques
54 Bob Caletti Music Box
Restorations
54 BenÕs Player Piano Service
54 Nancy Fratti Music Boxes
55 Mid-America Chapter
56 Chet Ramsay Antiques
56 Cottone Auctions
56 East Coast Chapter, MBSI
57 McAlister Collection
58 A & S Auction
59 A &S Auction
60 StantonÕs Auctioneers & Realtors
61 Nancy Fratti Music Boxes
66 Marty Persky
67 Morphy Auctions
68 Auction Team Brekker

Our advertisers help make this publication
possible. Please visit them soon!

Name Phone
Email
Text of ad

March/April 2018 MECHANICAL MUSIC 63

OFFICERS, TRUSTEES & COMMITTEES of the
MUSICAL BOX SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL¨

OFFICERS
President

Clay Witt
820 Del Rio Way Unit 303
Merritt Island, FL 32953
floridaclay@floridaclay.net

Vice President

Tom Kuehn
4 Williams Woods
Mahtomedi, MN 55115
kuehn001@umn.edu

Recording Secretary

David Corkrum
5826 Roberts Avenue
Oakland, CA 94605
musikwerke@att.net

Treasurer

Edward Kozak
3615 North Campbell Avenue
Chicago, IL 60618
kozak@seldenfox.com

TRUSTEES

John Bryant
Judy Caletti
Ed Cooley
Sally Craig
Wayne Finger
Tom Kuehn
Mary Ellen Myers
Mary Pollock
Clay Witt

BOARD ADVISER

Junichi Natori,
International Adviser

MBSI FUNDS

COMMITTEES
Audit Committee

Edward Cooley, Chair, Trustee
Mary Pollock, Trustee

G.Wayne Finger, Trustee
Endowment Committee

Edward Kozak, Treasurer, Chair
Mary Pollock, Trustee
B Bronson

Executive Committee

Clay Witt, Chair, President
Tom Kuehn, Vice President
Mary Pollock, Trustee
Judy Caletti, Immediate Past Pres.
John Bryant, Trustee

Finance Committee

Edward Kozak, Chair
Tom Kuehn, Vice President
Wayne Wolf, Vice Chair
B Bronson
Peter Both

Marketing Committee

Rob Pollock, Chair
John Bryant, Trustee
Wayne Finger, Trustee
Bob Smith

Meetings Committee

Tom Kuehn, Chair, Vice President
Mary Pollock, Trustee
Matt Jaro
Don Henry
Marty Persky
Rich Poppe

Membership Committee

Rob Pollock, Chair
Judy Caletti, Immediate Past Pres.
Tom Chase, Snowbelt
Mary Grace, Sunbelt
Linda Birkitt, Southern California
Florie Hirsch, National Capital
Julie Hughes, Golden Gate
Gerald Yorioka, Northwest IntÕl
Julie Morlock, Southeast
Dan Wilson, Piedmont

Museum Committee

Sally Craig, Chair, Trustee
John Bryant, Trustee
Ken Envall, Southern California
Julian Grace, Sunbelt
Wayne Myers, Southeast
Ray Parkinson, Northwest IntÕl
Bill Wineburgh, East Coast
Ron Yancy, East Coast

Museum Sub-Committees

Ohio Operations
Emery Prior

Nominating Committee

Dan Wilson, Chair
Mary Pollock, Trustee
Judy Caletti, Immediate Past Pres.
Carol Beck
Steve Boehck
Ray Dickey
Vernon Gantt

Publications Committee

Bob Caletti, Chair
Tom Kuehn, Trustee
Steve Boehck
Dave Corkrum
Christian Eric
Kathleen Eric
Terry Smythe

Publications
Sub-Committee

Website Committee
Rick Swaney, Chair
Wayne Finger, Trustee
Julian Grace
B Bronson
Don Henry
Knowles Little, Web Secretary

Special Exhibits Committee

Wayne Myers, Chair

John Bryant, Trustee

David Corkrum, Golden Gate

Robert Ebert, Mid-America

Jack Hostetler, Southeast

Judy Miller, Piedmont

Mary Ellen Myers, Southeast

Rick Swaney, Northwest IntÕl

Bill Wineburgh, East Coast

SPECIAL ACTIVITIES
Publications Back Issues:

Jacque Beeman

Regina Certificates:

Bob Yates

MBSI Pins and Seals:

Jacque Beeman

Librarian:

Jerry Maler

Historian:

Bob Yates

MBSI Editorial Office:

Iron Dog Media
130 Coral Court
Pismo Beach, CA 93449
editor@mbsi.org

Members can donate to these funds at any time.
Send donations to: General Fund (unrestricted)
MBSI Administrator, Endowment Fund (promotes the purposes of MBSI, restricted)
PO Box 10196, Ralph Heintz Publications Fund (special literary projects)
Springfield, MO 65808-0196. Museum Fund (supports museum operations)

All manuscripts will be subject to editorial review. Committee and the Editorial Staff. are considered to be the authorÕs personal opinion.
Articles submitted for publication may be edited The article will not be published with significant The author may be asked to substantiate his/her
or rejected at the discretion of the Publications changes without the authorÕs approval. All articles statements.

64 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2018

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Date Event Location Sponsor
Mar. 16, 2018 Trustees Mid-Year meeting, Musical Instrument Museum Phoenix, AZ Southern California Chapter
Mar. 17, 2018 Southern California Chapter meeting Phoenix, AZ Southern California Chapter
Apr. 20-22, 2018 Northwest International Chapter meeting in conjunction with
the Magic Lantern Society of U.S. and Canada convention
Victoria, BC
May 4-6, 2018 Lake Michigan Chapter Weekend Extravaganza (including the
Sanfilippo collection and the Herbert Mills Home)
Barrington Hills and
Oak Park, IL
Lake Michigan Chapter
May 6, 2018 Golden Gate Chapter joint meeting with AMICA Menlo Park, CA
Jul. 21-22, 2018 Mid-America Band Organ Rally Dayton, OH Mike and Liz Barnhart
Aug. 28-Sept. 1, 2018 2018 MBSI Annual Meeting Detroit, MI Mid-America Chapter

Please send dates for the Calendar of Events to Russell Kasselman (editor@mbsi.org)

CONTACTS

Administrator Jacque Beeman handles back issues (if available) $6;
damaged or issues not received, address changes, MBSI Directory
listing changes, credit card charge questions, book orders, status of your
membership, membership renewal, membership application, and MBSI
Membership Brochures.
P.O. Box 10196
Springfield, MO 65808-0196
Phone/Fax (417) 886-8839
jbeeman.mbsi@att.net

CHAPTERS

East Coast

Chair: Bill Wineburgh
(973) 927-0484
Dues $10 to Geoffrey Wilson
804 Appleton Way
Whippany, NJ 07981

Golden Gate

Chair: Richard Hughes
(650) 593-1261
Dues $5 to Dave Corkrum
5826 Roberts Ave.
Oakland, CA 94605

Japanese International

Chair: Tomiju Endo x
+81-42-339-9099
Dues Japanese yen 4,000 to
Sadahiko Sakauchi
5-2-41 Nigawa-cho
Nishinomiya-shi
662-0811 Japan

Lake Michigan

Chair: Marty Nevel
(312) 613-8500
Dues $5 to James Huffer
7930 N. Kildare
Skokie, Illinois 60076

Mid-America

Chair: Dave Calendine
(810) 449-8037
Dues $10 to Harold Wade
4616 Boneta Road
Medina, OH 44256

National Capital

Chair: Matthew Jaro
(301) 482-2008
Dues $5 to Florie Hirsch
8917 Wooden Bridge Road
Potomac, MD 20854

Northwest International

Chair: Dale Tyvand
(425) 774-7230
Dues $7.50/person to Kathy Baer
8210 Comox Road
Blaine, WA 98230

Piedmont

Chair: Vernon Gantt
(919) 264-2222
vgjr123@yahoo.com
Dues $10 to Vernon Gantt
PO Box 20238
Raleigh, NC 27619

Traveling MBSI Display
Bill Endlein
21547 NW 154th Pl.
High Springs, FL 32643-4519
Phone (386) 454-8359
sembsi@yahoo.com

Regina Certificates: Cost $5.
Bob Yates
901 Glenshaw Avenue
Glenshaw, PA 15116
Phone (412) 486-8435
rsublima@juno.com

Advertising for Mechanical Music
Russell Kasselman
Iron Dog Media
130 Coral Court
Pismo Beach, CA 93449
Phone (253) 228-1634
editor@mbsi.org

CHAPTERS

Snowbelt

Chair: Tracy Tolzmann
(651) 674-5149
Dues $10 to Gary Goldsmith
17160 – 245th Avenue
Big Lake, MN 55309

Southeast

Chair: Judy Miller
(828) 513-7007
Dues $5 to Julie Morlock
780 Cherry Grove Road
Orange Park, FL 32073

Museum Donations
Sally Craig,
2720 Old Orchard Road
Lancaster, PA 17601
Phone (717) 295-9188
rosebud441@juno.com

MBSI website
Rick Swaney,
4302 209th Avenue NE
Sammamish, WA 98074
Phone (425) 836-3586
r_swaney@msn.com

Web Secretary
Knowles Little
9109 Scott Dr.
Rockville, MD 20850
Phone (301) 762-6253
kglittle@verizon.net

Southern California

Chair: Robin Biggins
(310) 377-1472
Dues $10 to Bob Lloyd
1201 Edgeview Drive
Cowan Hgts, CA 92705

Sunbelt

Chair: Ray Dickey
(713) 467-0349
Dues $10 to Mary Grace
13431 Grand Masterpiece
Houston, TX 77041

Copyright 2016 the Musical Box Society International, all rights reserved. Permission to reproduce by any means, in whole or in part, must be obtained in writing
from the MBSI Executive Committee and the Editor. Mechanical Music is published in the even months. ISSN 1045-795X

March/April 2018 MECHANICAL MUSIC 65

MARTY PERSKY

AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT SPECIALIST
SERVING COLLECTORS WORLDWIDE

Instrument Brokering & Locating
Appraisals / Inspections / Free Consultation

Popper Felix Mortier 84 key CafŽ Wurlitzer MPO 33A Welte 4 Concert

Bow front Violano Weber Grandezza Violina Orchestra Weber Maesto

Holl 43-Key 2 Barrels Knabe AMPICO 5Õ8Ó Louis XV Wall Box Collection Niemuth 45-Key Bacigalupo
Wanted: Art Case Steinway Duo-Art & Raffin Organ.

Visit Mechmusic.com for more information on these and other fine instruments.

Tel: 847-675-6144 Email: Marty@MechMusic.com

Proven Market Success
SOLD $1,020,000
Dedicated to you and your collection
Proven Market Success
SOLD $1,020,000
Dedicated to you and your collection
Save the Date For Upcoming Auctions

¥ March 1 & 2: Firearms & Militaria
¥ March 29: Sports Memorabilia
¥
¥ May 16: Toy, Doll & Figural Cast Iron
¥ May 18: Premier Western (Las Vegas)
¥

May 24: Automobilia & Petroliana
please visit or call us at:
¥
¥
¥ June 20, 21 & 22: Lamps, Glass & Fine Jewelry
2000 | | |

Free consignment shipping to Germany Ð if delivered or sent to our location
in Garden City Park, NY 11040 (10 miles east of JFK Airport)
Free shipping for any major consignment from the U.K.! You just pack Ð we do the rest!
For more information and large colour photographs of some more of the upcoming
highlights please visit our website at: www.Breker.com / New Highlights
and youTube.com at Auction Team Breker in mid April 2018
Fully-illustrated bilingual (Engl.-German) COLOUR Catalogue available against prepayment only:
Euro 28.Ð (Europe) or elsewhere Euro 39.Ð (approx. US$ 44.Ð / Overseas)
(Bank draft, cash or by Credit Card with CVV and expiry date: MasterCard/Visa/AmEx)
. Consignments for Future Auctions Always Welcome! .
Ð Leading the Field in Specialist Auctions Ð
P. O. Box 50 11 19, 50971 Koeln/Germany á Tel.: +49 / 2236 / 38 43 40 á Fax: +49 / 2236 / 38 43 430
Otto-Hahn-Str. 10, 50997 Koeln (Godorf)/Germany
e-mail: Auction@Breker.com á www.breker.com á Business Hours: Tue Ð Fri 9 am Ð 5 pm
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT OUR INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES:
U.S.A.: Andrew Truman, Tel. (207) 485 8343 * AndrewAuctionTeamBreker@gmail.com
Australia & New Zealand: P. Bardenheier, (NZ), Tel./Fax (+64) (0)9 817 72 68 * dbarden@orcon.net.nz
Japan: Murakami Taizou, Tel./Fax (06) 68 45 86 28 * murakami@ops.dti.ne.jp á China: Jiang Feng, Tel. 138 620 620 75 * jiangfengde@gmail.com
Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore: Alex Shih-Chieh Lin, (HK), Tel. (+852) 94 90 41 13 * alexsclin@gmail.com
England: Tel. (0)777 963 7317 * AuctionTeamBrekerUK@outlook.de á France: Pierre J. Bickart, Tel. (01) 43 33 86 71 * AuctionTeamKoln@aol.com
Russia: Polyguide Ltd. Moscow, Tel. (925) 740 66 03, Tel./Fax (985) 999 93 55 * ml.mediaservice@gmail.com
Hunter Watch
with Alarm
and Musical
Automata by
Reuge, c. 1975
Estimate:
2.000 Ð 3.000  /
2,480 Ð 3,720 $
Libellion Musical Box for
Cardboard Book Music, c. 1910
Estimate: 7.000 Ð 8.000  / 8,680 Ð 9,920 $
Buddha Gramophone, c. 1925
With papier-m‰chŽ figure
Estimate: 3.500 Ð 4.500  /
4,340 Ð 5,580 $
Very Rare Symphonion Style 100
Disc-Changing Musical Box
Estimate: 55.000 Ð 80.000  /
68,200 Ð 99,200 $
Portable ÈBauhausÇ Gramophone
by Carl Lindstršm AG, c. 1930
Estimate: 700 Ð 1.000  / 868 Ð 1,240 $
Rare Duplex Musical Clock
by E. Flonck, 1898
Estimate: 11.000 Ð 13.000  / 13,640 Ð 16,120 $
Rare Gramophone
Alarm Clock, c. 1920
Estimate: 1.000 Ð 1.500  /
1,240 Ð 1,860 $
Éand many more!
ÈMechanical Music,
Talking Machines &
TechnologyÇ
May 26, 2018
146th Specialty Auction
Emile Berliner-Style Hand-
Turned Gramophone,
Model 2
Estimate: 2.000 Ð 3.000  /
2,480 Ð 3,720 $
Sensational ÈStereoscopeÇ-
Symphonion Musical Box, c. 1895
Estimate:
10.000 Ð 15.000  /12,400 Ð 18,600 $
ÈStollwerckÇ
Tin Gramophone with
Chocolate Discs, c. 1903
Estimate: 2.000 Ð 3.000  /
2,480 Ð 3,720 $