Century old antique manivelle music box (gone)

Manivelle is French for crank. This is the name adopted for these small, hand cranked music boxes beloved by children in earlier times.
The illustrated example is old, original, and may date as early as ca. 1903

Category:

Education

Tags:

• manivelle
• old
• music
• box
• toy
• for
• children
• babes
• in
• toyland
• land
• victor
• herbert

[bragolin4]

Is it true what HartfordTommy wrote in a comment here, that girls made them in fabriques?

From where is this info in origin?

[ampdavolts]

@bragolin4, it's a colloquial name I read that the French use for a toy, hand-cranked box of this sort. Manivelle means "crank", I believe. Cheers, thanks for writing.

[bragolin4]

Is this an official name "Manivelle"? I own some of these hand winded old music boxes, but I don't know the name of this French manufacturer

[grofys]

apparently the style didn't change much through the 1960's because although i bought a german mb that played a lullaby in the late 60's, it is the same size, with the same type of paper and identical handle.

[51rickjames]

i just got a old one and it looks like a old mini victrola

[twinofanangel21]

thats a very pritty music box

[HartfordTommy]

It was a sales video for ebay I posted, using the ebay sales account (this is reid/netsky/etc speaking now)

The toy has no spring, no plastics, no guile, just mechanical parts and a steel comb tuned by ear to a very high level of quality by girl workers in a factory in France a century ago. These were toys to be prized by the children, and a few were well cared for over the years. This one was and is a charmed survivor; a reminder of how nearly basic life once was.

[banditfemme]

winsome, endearing, pure netsky charisma.

[banditfemme]

absolutely netsky.

[leafsoup]

The mechanical sounds are what makes it so good. I don't know about the song itself, which I find quite annoying, but the sound is what gets to me. I wish more people made music boxes.. Maybe I will.