Cylinder Music Boxes. In the 9th century, in Baghdad, Iraq, the Banū Mūsā brothers, a trio of Persian inventors, produced “the earliest known mechanical musical instrument”, in this case a hydropowered organ which played interchangeable cylinders automatically, which they described in their Book of Ingenious Devices. According to Charles B. Fowler, this “cylinder with raised pins on the surface remained the basic device to produce and reproduce music mechanically until the second half of the nineteenth century.”
Later, in the early 13th century, in Flanders, an ingenious bell ringer invented a cylinder with pins which operated cams, which then hit the bells. Reference: Wikipedia
Below are some examples and price guides of antique music boxes which use cylinders in their movements including a rosewood and marquetry inlaid box.
A late 19th century French rosewood and marquetry inlaid and stained wood cylinder music box
by Paillard Vaucher et Fils
the rectangular case with musical trophy decoration to the lid, the brass cylinder numbered 1824 playing eight airs, the movement with single-spring motor and single-section comb with zither attachment within an ebonised interior under glass dust lid,
15cm high, 57cm wide, 22cm deep
Sold for £191.25 inc. premium at Bonham’s in 2022
Swiss Walnut and Other Woods Cylinder Music Box
Early 20th century
Rectangular with hinged cover opening to cylinder playing ten tunes. Height 7 inches, length 23 1/2 inches.
Sold for $437 (includes buyer’s premium) at Doyle in 2020
Antique Swiss cylinder music box having (8) tunes, labeled D. Allard Co., Geneve, 7″ x 25″ x 11″
Sold for US$425 at Kaminski Auctions in 2022
Swiss cylinder music box having an inlaid rosewood case, with an ebonized interior and trim, the lid with inlaid musical instrument and floral decoration. The interior of lid retains the original paper 8-tune sheet listing each song and it’s composer along with the serial number 28908 and the numbers 8632 & 713. Fitted with a steel comb and a lever winding mechanism marked with serial #29809 and 5 bells with bird strikers. 10″ H x 23″ W x 12 1/4″ D. Swiss, Late 19th Century.
Sold for US$450 at Case Antiques, Inc. Auctions & Appraisals in 2022
A GOLD AND ENAMEL MUSICAL HARP CIRCA 1860
• Movement: gilded, the music played via 8 blued steel tuned tines plucking a pinned cylinder
• Case: realistically styled harp, the curved front panel with translucent red enamel over a decoratively chased and engraved gold ground, interspersed by champlevé enamel flowers in translucent white and blue enamels, a score of music surrounded by a green enamel wreath, the sound box with polychrome enamel painted muses, one carrying a lyre, putti above, lapis lazuli column surmounted by red guilloché enamel and diamond-set capital, base decoratively pierced and engraved for sound emission, underside with polished gold base and aperture for winding
Sold for 27,720 CHF at Sotheby’s in 2020
