The Musical Wonder House Museum
By Larry Smith
[ Editor's Note: The following 3 articles were recently
[ sent here and also posted on 24Jul96 to USENET in the
[ group rec.antiques. The articles posted here are
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[ Jody
This is a repost of a review originally sent out nearly a year ago, and is being reposted since it is relevant to another review. - L
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[ Review:
[
[ The Musical
[ Wonder House
[ Museum
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The Musical Wonder House Museum
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A Review By Larry Smith
The Musical Wonder House - "Preserving the Sounds of the Past"
On two recent occasions I had the opportunity to visit this fascinating museum based in Wiscasset, Maine. The proprieter, Danilo Konvalinka, has been collecting musical boxes since 1957, and his collection is now overflowing a large elegant home on High Street in downtown Wiscasset.
The collection includes hundreds and hundreds of boxes, from an 1815 cylinder to a 1994 reproduction cylinder, it fills eight large rooms and two central halls. Very nearly all of them are in prime condition after pain-staking restoration.
There are two tours available, a lower-story tour, which is $10 a person and takes an hour, and a whole-house tour taking 3 hours and costing $30 a person. During the tour you will have the opportunity to hear a dozen or more beautiful musical boxes, along with a scattering of reproducing pianos and barrel organs, and the odd windup phonograph or two. The central hallway on the lower story can be toured unsupervised, and is filled with coin-operated musical boxes, restored in every detail but one: they take quarters where they used to take pennies. Bring lots.
Some other standout pieces include several magnificent orchestra boxes including a number with percussion, bell and reed or pipe organ effects, a number of large disk units including a Regina disk model built into a round table, and a number of automata of various types to round out the collection.
The Musical Wonder House has a store in the back that sells new and restored musical boxes, and a companion store in Lexington, Mass. that has an even larger selection. It also does restoration work, which I will be able to report on in more detail once they finish my own orchestral cylinder box, which needs the cylinder repinned and extensive case work. They can even repair broken combs (thankfully not necessary on my box).
The Musical Wonder House is open from Memorial Day to October most days. Lower-story tours are available any time, whole-house tours must be arranged (and are well worth it) by calling (207) 882-7163. Tell them I sent you - I don't get any benefit from that, but it might encourage Mr. Konvalinka to set up a web site so people who can't get to Maine can still enjoy a bit of his collection. |
(Message sent Wed 24 Jul 1996, 19:20:55 GMT, from time zone GMT-0400.) |
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