The Music Box – a Remarkable Invention of Our Time

Music boxes, also referred to as a musical box, give you the feeling as if they have been around forever. We are likely to know someone, a friend or family member, having received one as a present or as a family hand down. The music box is an interesting and remarkable invention with a history going back for many years. Before the modern era of TV and radio, they gave immense pleasure to many, young and old.

The Interesting History of the Music Box

Originating in the early 19th century, the music box is very much the same as it was then, a pleasing automatic musical instrument A set of pins on a revolving disc or cylinder strike a steel comb inside, of which the teeth are tuned to produce the distinct sound that results. Some boxes are more detailed than others, they have small bells and a tiny drum in addition to the steel comb.

The precursor to the music box came from the 18th century, and was a musical form of the popular snuff box. Snuff boxes were items that gentlemen typically carried in their pockets. The subsequent music boxes could range from anything as small as a snuff box, to anything as large as a piece of furniture.

However, as time went on, the more common size of a music box became what it still is today, which is a box that can easily be placed on a table. In 1815, the first music box shop was opened in Switzerland by Jérémie Recordon and Samuel Junod. Other shops also opened in places like Bohemia and Germany. Finally, at the end of the 19th century, it seemed odd to find that some European manufacturers began to move to the United States with their factories.

Since that time, there have been many different kinds of music boxes that have been manufactured. They have been manufactured to commemorate various things, such as holidays, and classic movies. When it comes to the music that emanates from these wonder boxes, they have been known to be anything from classical pieces to famous film themes. Hearing the music associated from a memorable holiday or movie, always wound sound better listening to it from a musical box.

These unique inventions can be found in many different places today, such as local specialty shops that sell greeting cards. If you are a tourist visiting a city, no doubt you will find a musical box that you can buy as a remembrance of your trip.

It would be extremely difficult to determine how much they would have cost at the time of assembly, as some are very ornate and carefully constructed with inlaid walnut and other fine hardwood, often handmade with precision and care to fine detail. A music box still today, make a very unusual and surprising gift, if not only to be proud and own such a nostalgic and precious item, but one of pleasure to look at and listen to.