$30,550
Interchangeable Revolver Musical Box by George Baker, No. 7183, No. 15991 on lever, with three interchangeable eight-air cylinders held in their arbors by sprung brass clips on revolving carousel, lever-changing mechanism to disengage cylinder from the great wheel, gilt-brass double-spring movement with winding crank, engine-turned zither attachment, inverted lyre-form tune indicator, tune selector and transfer of Geo. Baker & Co. (Late G. Baker Troll & Co.) , the tune-sheet headed Patent Interchangeable Reveolver System , in rosewood veneered case with ormolu carrying handles, red interior, tulipwood crossbanding to front and sides, and lid with central cartouche of ebony, brass and mother-of-pearl, wd. 34 in., cylinders 13 in. Note: The invention of the revolver mechanism is credited to Amedee Paillard in 1870. The lever-changing mechanism of the earlier models (such as the box here), proving hazardous and cumbersome to operate, was eventually abandoned in favour of the simpler capstan-wheel method for revolving the carousel. Provenance: Jerry Cohen Collection, Sotheby's, 1994.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2005-05-03
