Dear MMD members, from the 20th 'till the 24th of February we have
the big trade fair "Ambiente" here in Frankfurt, Germany. I was there.
In the hall for gifts a lot of companies offered musical boxes, many
with musical movements from the Far East.
Meanwhile you can see beside the standard 18-note movements also
movements with 50, 78 and more notes from there. The more expensive
boxes have Swiss movements, of course. Well-known family Wendel from
Ruedesheim was also there with a stand.
For me as a collector of musical boxes the most impressive exhibitor
was Reuge from Switzerland with their valuable pieces. Years ago
Reuge sold small, medium and large movements, under the brand name
"Romance", from 18-note up to 72-note movements in small number of
pieces.
It's sad to hear that they have reduced that business to the 22-, 28-
and 36-note movements. All other models they offer only complete with
a boxes.
The minimum quantity for ordering is now for the
22-note movement: 50 pieces per song title;
28-note movement: 40 pieces per song title;
36-note movement: 40 pieces per song title.
Too many for a collector. The 18-note movement they don't sell anymore.
Kind regards
Hauke Marxsen (Germany)
|