07-25-200907-25-2009
Skinner Auctions
Skinner AuctionsMarlborough MA
July 25, 2009 10:00 AMCalender
382

Timbres en Vue Cylinder Musical Box with American Tune

Sell one like this
$5,036$4,250
Auction: Clocks, Watches & Scientific Instruments - 2447Location: MarlboroughDate / Time: July 25, 2009 10:00AM

Description:

Timbres en Vue Cylinder Musical Box with American Tune, No. 88607 on the flat-top winding lever, playing eight lively airs including Leben und Lieben, La Traviata, Rigoletto, "Star Spangled Banner," and "Up in a Balloon," accompanied by nine optional engine-turned bells with finials and gilt bird strikers, with diamond-shaped tune-sheet, in rosewood-veneered case with inlaid motifs of a classical profile motif on the front and pair of pelicans flanking an ebony crest on the lid, wd. 22 1/2, cylinder 13 in., (some worm damage underside lower edge on front).

Note: A bell box of characteristic Bremond design, the program features the unusual addition of a patriotic American tune, possibly by request from the original owner. The heraldic pelicans on the lid may be a reference to the Louisiana state seal which features a "pelican in her piety," originally a mediaeval allusion to the bird's sacrifice of her own blood to feed her young, as seen on the flag of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. A comparable musical box by the same maker that included the Civil War tune "Stonewall Jackson" was sold at Skinner, Science & Technology, August 23, 2008, lot 870.
Estimate $4,000-6,000

Movement in good playing condition, having been overhauled by the Musical Wonder House in Wiscasset, Maine, in 2006. Case retains its original finish.

Keywords

Rigoletto, Stonewall Jackson, original owner, Oxford, Corpus Christi College, Louisiana, Wiscasset, Maine