I saw one of these for sale two weeks ago in a souvenir ship in Tarpon
Springs, Florida (a Greek sponging- and souvenir- community). (If you
go, it's the shop on the dock side of the street with the huge stuffed
'gator hanging up high on the wall outside the door.)
It had an old typed note on the instrument explaining what it was,
how old it was (mid 1800s), and (interestingly) that "the last person"
who could service it recently passed away (maybe the shopkeeper you
spoke to hasn't kept up on current events lately, or maybe this is all
urban legend).
The note claims that it was very rare (but of course!) it's been
restored (that might mean dusted off, who knows?), and she even let me
turn the crank and play it, but it sounded terrible to my ears. I just
figured that it was a cultural sound, and might be music to somebody
else's ears. Either that, or I wasn't turning the crank at the right
speed.
Anyway, the thing IS for sale, and was priced at several thousand
dollars. (If it'd sounded better, I would've paid more attention
to and remembered more details.)
Rick Inzero, Rochester, NY, rdi@cci.com
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