I am a beginner as a collector of mechanical music and am considering
becoming a member of MBSI, but when reading through the MMD archives
I noted that most of the discussion is about player pianos.  I only
have two cylinder music boxes and two small table Polyphons, a puny
offering compared to a _piano_!

Well, no problem, I could still fit in with MBSI members because
I remembered that my favourite uncle had a player piano that I used
to pump as a kid, so I rang him to ask for details and to see if he
wanted to part with it.  This piano sat in a dark, dry lounge room,
untouched for at least 50 years, so would have to be in top condition.

After exchanging pleasantries with 82-year-old Uncle Colin (I'm named
after him), we got down to business :-

"(Uncle) Colin, you have a player piano sitting in the corner, and a
heap of music rolls, how about I take them off your hands, as a good
helpful nephew?"

"Eh, what?  Oh yes, the player piano.  You know, your grandfather
bought three of them when they were first imported into Australia,
one for himself, one for me and one for his brother.  He also bought
hundreds of music rolls and those darn things completely filled my
photographic dark room.  A damn nuisance.  He was the only musician
and we didn't really want them, so the other two sat around for years
and years, untouched."

"Yeah, yeah, but can I do you a favour and come pick it up, and
I'll get rid of the music rolls for you too."

"Ah, well no-one around here wanted it so I gave it to the woman
across the road for her kids to play with.  They strung the rolls
around the fence."

After muttering certain dark words like, "Oh, gosh darn!" (this is
a family forum, isn't it?)  I said, "You don't happen to remember
the brand of piano, do you?"

"Oh, sure, they were rosewood Jesse French's from America."

!!!!!!

Colin MacKinnon, Sydney, Australia

 [ Jody wrote back to Colin and explained that MBSI and MMD
 [ are separate entities.  Colin says that he has been reading
 [ the MMDigest at the web site and has been searching the
 [ Archives for music box information.  His big letter about the
 [ prices paid at the recent auction in Sydney appears at the
 [ end of this Digest.  -- Robbie