Collectible music boxes are hand made. The workshop in Saint-Croix in world renowned for producing some of the finest and rarest music boxes around the world, so make sure you are getting the real deal. For the music box connoisseur, it is best to make a trip to Switzerland in order to select the limited edition models that may not be sold at many stores because of their price and limited quantity. You can also ask the locals of that little town if they own any Reuge music boxes. They are likely to own some of the first and best models, maybe even those handmade by Charles Reuge himself. If you are able to acquire such pieces, you are a lucky owner of a rare and highly collectible Reuge music box. The size of the music box and the tune are also an important determinant in a collectible. Bigger boxes tend to be harder to maintain and keep. The cost to acquire them was also high, making it affordable only to the wealthy. The tune is also important because if you had popular tunes, people would be more willing to buy it than to acquire one that plays an obscure tune especially in the case of non-interchangeable music boxes. The materials used to make good music boxes were rare and expensive, such as rose wood, which made them rather resilient to aging if well-taken care of.