Rare Paillard Grand Format Changeable Mandoline Expressive Quator Musical Box

Description:

Rare Paillard Grand Format Changeable Mandoline Expressive Quator Musical Box, by Charles Paillard, No. 808, tune-sheet numbered 13311, with six cylinders playing six airs each, comb with mandoline teeth arranged in groups of up to six and brass guard plate (originally silvered) engraved Mandoline Expressive Quator. C. Paillard & Cie, St. Croix, Suisse. 36 Airs, 18 Pouces, 56 Lignes. (Accord Parfait), reeded brass bedplate engraved B, massive single spring, silvered control panel engraved in script, and tune-sheet headed M.J. Paillard & Co. Manufactuerers, 680 Broadway, New York, in burr-walnut case with kingwood banding, applied ebony panels, ormolu carrying handles, and front and lid with roundels in molded relied depicting draped neo-classical women serenaded by putti, wd. 39, cylinders 19 1/4 x 3 3/8 in., (missing four treble tips and segments of ebony on lid),the cylinders housed in the remains of two drawers.
Paillard musical boxes engraved in this way were manufactured to the highest standards, often for exhibition purposes. The program is predominantly operatic, including the overtures to Oberon, Zampa, Semiramide and William Tell, in addition to choral pieces such as Haydn's La Creation, The Russian National Hymn, Nocturne of Chopin, and occasional popular airs. Tunes are pinned to play for just under two minutes.
Estimate $10,000-15,000

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