Polyphon (Germany) musical boxes and cabinets

The history of the music box dates back to 1796, when the Swiss watchmaker Antoine Favre perfected the concept of musical devices of reduced dimensions. The cylinder musical box evolved in the early 19th century from clocks with bell chimes. Instead of bells the music was created by tiny teeth as in the teeth in a comb being 'flicked' by the pins in a rotating cylinder. The early boxes had plain cases, and the spring mechanism which drove the cylinder was wound by a key. This was replaced by a ratchet lever. From 1860 the cases became more ornate with more... inlays and banding. The movements were enhanced with complications such as bellow, drums and bells, the latter of which were often hidden under decorative butterflies or bees. Another advance was to include additional cylinders, and while the box could only play a single cylinder at one time, the cylinders were interchangeable, thus increasing the repertoire of the box. Popularity and thus production of cylinder musical boxes declined in the late 19th century as they were superseded by the disc musical box. The music in these was created by a revolving disc with protrusions which strike keyed teeth. The discs were easier and cheaper to produce than the pinned cylinders of the musical box, the discs could be changed, and popular tunes could be put on disc overnight. The disc musical box reached its apogee of popularity between 1885 and 1914. There are two basic models of the disc musical box, the free-standing where the disc is vertical, and the table model, where the disc is usually horizontal. Many of the free-standing models could be in excess of 200 cm in height. For commercial use, models were made with a "penny in-the-slot" mechanism for use in public houses. Sometimes musical movements, both cylinder and disc, were incorporated in clocks. less...

The Polyphon music box was invented in 1870 by Gustave Brachhausen and Paul Riessner in Leipzig, Germany. However, full-scale production didn't begin until around 1897 and continued into the early 20th century. Unlike traditional music boxes that play melodies from pinned cylinders, Polyphon music boxes utilized metal discs with punched holes. As the disc rotated, the holes would pluck metal teeth of a comb, creating the music. This allowed for a wider range of sounds and more complex melodies compared to traditional music boxes.

Polyphon music boxes were prized for their high quality and beautiful sound. They were more... often decorated with elaborate carvings and inlaid with precious materials. They became popular status symbols in wealthy households around the world.

In the early 1900s, the introduction of phonographs and player pianos with paper rolls starts to erode the Polyphon market share, which was further disrupted by the participation of Germany in World War I. Production ceased in the 1930s. less...