Mechanical Music Digest  Archives
You Are Not Logged In Login/Get New Account
Please Log In. Accounts are free!
Logged In users are granted additional features including a more current version of the Archives and a simplified process for submitting articles.
Home Archives Calendar Gallery Store Links Info
MMD > Archives > November 2000 > 2000.11.02 > 07Prev  Next


Wilcox & White Player Pump Organ
By Dan Wilson, London

John Page [in 001019 MMDigest] said of a Wilcox & White player organ
being offered for sale by Sarah Davie:

> P.S.:  It is a "player" pump organ and is in working condition.
> It is a flat top which I have been told means it was made between
> 1860-1870.

According to Rex Lawson in his seminal article in the Pianola Journal
No. 11 (1998), "Towards a History of the Aeolian Company" -- which
I must already have quoted from three or four times on MMD -- Wilcox &
White was not founded until 1877.  It made plain reed organs, and while
a secret alliance was forged with Morgan of the Mechanical Orguinette
Co, Horace Wilcox and James White were founding directors of the
Aeolian Organ & Music Co in 1887.  If they sold a player organ before
then, it would have been made by an Aeolian constituent company such as
Edwin Votey's.

The alliance fell apart in 1889 after which W&W and Aeolian were both
in mechanical music in a big way and bitter rivals.  If this organ was
made between 1860 and 1870, it was not originally a Wilcox & White
and the player mechanism is a retrofit job.  This seems unlikely,
though.

Dan Wilson, London


(Message sent Thu 2 Nov 2000, 21:08:00 GMT, from time zone GMT.)

Key Words in Subject:  Organ, Player, Pump, White, Wilcox

Home    Archives    Calendar    Gallery    Store    Links    Info   


Enter text below to search the MMD Website with Google



CONTACT FORM: Click HERE to write to the editor, or to post a message about Mechanical Musical Instruments to the MMD

Unless otherwise noted, all opinions are those of the individual authors and may not represent those of the editors. Compilation copyright 1995-2024 by Jody Kravitz.

Please read our Republication Policy before copying information from or creating links to this web site.

Click HERE to contact the webmaster regarding problems with the website.

Please support publication of the MMD by donating online

Please Support Publication of the MMD with your Generous Donation

Pay via PayPal

No PayPal account required

                                     
Translate This Page