This mechanical music box from the collection of the Nevyansk Historical and Architectural Museum was made in 1908 in Switzerland. It is rectangular. On the front wall of the case, there is a keyhole with a figured lining. The front side of the hinged lid carries the images of musical instruments and floral ornaments. On the right side, there is a handle for winding the mechanism. A colored label is attached to the inner side, which lists the musical pieces included in the device. The box is still in mint condition and fully operative.

The first music boxes came into being in the 19th century when a Geneva-based watchmaker Antoine Favre made a mechanism that could reproduce a simple melody. Originally, such mechanisms were built into clocks and perfume bottles, but soon such devices took the shape of a box and became a regular feature of interior decor.

Inside any music box was a cylinder with pins and a metal piece that looked like a comb with teeth of varying lengths. As the cylinder rotated, the pins brushed against the comb teeth in a specific order. If the tooth was long, the sound was low; if it was short, the pitch was higher. A spring mechanism was also integrated into the box, which extended the tune’s duration. But even in this case, playback time did not exceed a minute, so the boxes were programmed for a small, most recognizable music fragment. Once the music ended, the cylinder returned to its original position.

The production of music boxes required pinpoint precision. The craftsman made almost all operations manually. Some complex models, in addition to the musical cylinder and comb, contained tiny bells and a miniature drum, which made the melody more intense.

In the first half of the 20th century, the gramophone replaced the music box. This device was simpler and more convenient to use, and besides, it was very easy to change its repertoire: you just had to change the record.