Burr. Burrs (burls in US) yield a very peculiar and highly figured wood, prized for its beauty and rarity. It is sought after by furniture makers, artists, and wood sculptors. There are a number of well-known types of burrs (each from a particular species); these are highly valued and sliced into veneers for furniture, inlay in doors, picture frames, household objects, automobile interior paneling and trim, musical instruments, and woodturning. The famous birdseye maple of the sugar maple (Acer saccharum) superficially resembles the wood of a burl but is something else entirely. Burr wood is very hard to work with hand tools or on a lathe because its grain is twisted and interlocked, causing it to chip and shatter unpredictably. This “wild grain” makes burl wood extremely dense and resistant to splitting, which made it valued for bowls, mallets, mauls and “beetles” or “beadles” for hammering chisels and driving wooden pegs.
Burrs are harvested with saws or axes for smaller specimens and timber felling chainsaws and tractors for massive ones.
Ouverture Music Box Fantastic grand format like Ouverture music box in perfect condition probably by Bremond, Geneva, ca. 1880 with brass tune cylinder (2,8 x 13,1 in.). Burr walnut case with inlay, sold without table. Six ouvertures: “The last Rose of Summer”, “Robert the Devil”, “Norma”, “Carnival of Venice”, “The Mute of Portici”, “Dinorah”. 9,76 x 26,3 x 13,1 in. CH, DF
Sold for $9,000 at Swiss Auction Company in 2018
AN ATTRACTIVE SWISS BURR WALNUT EBONIZED INTERCHANGEABLE CYLINDER MUSIC BOX ON TABLE, CIRCA 1870 mechanism numbered 237 playing one of six tunes per 23-cm cylinder on a single comb with damping, case with burr walnut panels with string inlay and ebonized borders, the inside of the lid with a tune list for all 6 cylinders, on a table with a drawer containing five other cylinders
Sold for 13,200 EUR at Sotheby’s in 2005
A late 19th century burr walnut and marquetry music box With paper label bearing makers mark of Baker Troll & Co., Geneva Playing six airs, the 32cm cylinder contained in a rectangular case, 60cm wide, 25cm deep, 18cm high (23 1/2in wide, 9 1/2in deep, 7in high)
Sold for £ 1,211 inc. premium at Bonham’s in 2019
A SWISS BURR MAPLE AND EBONISED WOOD INTERCHANGEABLE-CYLINDER MUSIC BOX LATE 19TH CENTURY The case with brass handles and bone escutcheon playing one cylinder with six airs, and with two further interchangeable cylinders, with zither attachment 30 ½ in. (77.5 cm.) wide
Sold for GBP 2,250 at Christie’s in 2014
