Good evening, Brian. Singing bird cages have been made since the
late 1700s (Jaquet Droz) and are still made today (Reuge, MMM and
a few really poor quality Chinese mechanisms). All bird cages crafted
post-WW2 have synthetic parts except for Bontems and a mystery Japanese
maker that copied the Bontems design. Bontems stopped production in
the late 1950s. Some German bird cages made pre-WW2 also had synthetic
parts.
The bird cage you referenced was most likely made by Bontems of Paris,
France. The embedded video did not work for me so I could not hear it
play. However, looking at the number of cams on the movement, this may
play more than one bird song (shifting cam). I say this because there
are more cams present than needed for a single bird to animate and sing
one song. The photos are not entirely clear but it looks like this may
have four, possibly five cams.
Kind regards,
Troy Duncan
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