However, it wasn’t until 1875 that the first music box factory was opened by the Paillard company in St. Croix, Switzerland. Previously, all music boxes were produced through smaller cottage-industry operations using the skills of different craftspeople to assemble a complete product. These early musical contraptions were an expensive luxury item favored by the aristocracy, primarily playing hymns and operatic songs. Later versions added mechanical automata to their complex musical tunes for increasingly magical effects. By the late 1800s, music boxes were built with removable cylinders whose tunes could be changed by replacing specially designed drawers. Finally, in 1885, Paul Lochmann created a music box called the “Symphonion” using a flat metal disc that rotated on a turntable. These metal discs could be easily swapped out, much like a vinyl record. Pop music was suddenly affordable and immediately accessible; within weeks of a Broadway show’s debut, its most memorable musical themes were available on music-box discs. Gustave Brachhausen, foreman of the Lochmann firm, split with the company and created his own business manufacturing the “Polyphon,” perhaps the most famous disc-operated music box. In 1892, Brachhausen moved to the United States where he opened the Regina Music Box Company in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Selected Products
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Music Box Repair
Music Box Movement
Music Box Animated
Fisher Price Music Box
Music Box Baby
Music Box Wind Beneath My Wings
Italian Inlaid Music Box
Music Box Disc
Metal Music Boxes
Swiss Music Box
Music Box 7
Ballerina Music Box
Reuge Music Box 72
Music Box Replacement Parts
Music Box Hummel
Music Box Happy Birthday
Music Box Jbl
Otagiri Music Box
Music Box Picture
Wizard Of Oz Music Box
Music Box Iphone
Music Box 18
Make Your Own Music Box
Music Box Gold
Music Box Personalized
Ice Cream Music Box
Music Box Parts Wind Up
Music Box Gift
Music Box Porcelain
Music Box Love Song
Music Box Unforgettable
Music Box Victorian
Music Box Wedding
Music Box Ceramic
Music Box Reuge
Music Box Personalized