Anita Hull's question [160105 MMDigest] concerning her musical chair
with the name Chevob and Baker-Troll of Geneva raises a number of
questions about these delightful novelties.  As well as offering the
following I welcome pictures and information that might add to the
following:

Chevob et Cie was established in Geneva.  Although the date is
uncertain, the firm was the successor to that other famous name,
Baker-Troll.  Chevob was most likely a trader acting as an agent for
various artifacts including musical boxes.

I think it is quite rare to find the name on a musical chair, so it
adds to the knowledge about how the market changed as Geneva declined
in musical box manufacture towards the end of the musical box
manufacturing era in the late 1880/1890s.

Chevob's cylinder musical boxes often had the label: CHEVOB & Co.
late BAKER TROLL & Co.  One of these with the serial number 18452 is
for 1898 according to the Bulleid dating chart.  Whether or not Anita's
chair follows Bulleid dateline is uncertain for a number of reasons.
The Baker-Troll partnership started in 1874.  Geo (for George) Baker
and Samuel Troll were independent makers before that date.  The
partnership with Troll may have ended some time after 1891.

Bulleid wrote that a cylinder musical box circa 1892 was labelled
Geo. Baker & Co (late G. Baker-Troll & Co).  Yet another musical box,
circa 1892, was labelled S. Troll (late George Baker & Co).  He also
referred to an extensive Baker-Troll catalogue of 1892.  These statements
assume that the tie between Chevob and Baker-Troll was loosened about
1892.  It seems it was a 'gentlemanly' cessation of the partnership.

Thus the date 1892 seems to be significant.  Bulleid wrote that Samuel
Troll closed down about that time but that George Baker carried on
until about 1900.  He thought that this was also the time that George
Baker gave up part of the business to Chevob.

Not much is known about Chevob.  A rather simple Chevob tune sheet
exists with the Geneva Coat of Arms and the words: 'Chevob & Co late
Baker-Troll & Co, manufacturers, Geneva' with the serial number 11750
written by hand.  This could not be a Baker-Troll serial number because
it would date to 1885.  A label with the same wording has been noted on
a Mira 'Stella' disc box indicating Chevob was an agent.  Mira was a
trade name for Mermod Frères disc boxes made in Ste.-Croix from 1902
onwards.

Most makers used their serial numbers in sequence irrespective of the
item.  The above Chevob serial could be for either Chevob or for the
maker of the musical movement.  Although a guess, one has to start
somewhere!  My thoughts are that the serial number is for the supplier
of the movement.  Below is how I discovered the maker of the movement
for my musical chair.

Many makers such as l'Epée, Paillard and others made thousands of
small snuffbox-type musical movements, mostly without any form of
identification except perhaps a part number, a letter code and rarely
a serial number.  If serial 11750 relates to about 1900 or slightly
earlier, Anita's movement would be slightly later.  Sellers often
advertised these musical chairs with dates such as circa 1880s but
even their dating evidence could be a guess.

The maker of my chair remained a mystery for some years until
I bought the marvellous MBSI English translation of the Piguet book,
"The Music Box Makers - a history of Saint Croix".  On page 211 is
a picture [of a chair] identical in every respect to mine and it was
made by Cuendet of l'Auberson, Saint-Croix, Switzerland.

The only means of identification on mine was the number 22 cast very
badly on the underside of brass bedplate.  I understand MBSI are
currently selling the book a very favourable discounted price.
Everyone should have one on the bookshelf!

Most of the 'Swiss' musical chairs are thought or known to be Austrian
or German as well.  As far as I know, no particular maker of the chairs
has been identified.  No doubt they were using musical movements by one
or more of the unidentified major suppliers.

A typical musical chair has a sturdy internal frame to the seat with a
wooden base that acts as an excellent soundboard.  The seat is hinged
to the back of the frame and legs dowelled into its corners.  The seat
is held open slightly by a C-shaped spring, its movement restrained by
a long screw between base and seat.  The back of the seat fits into
recesses at the hinged end.  There are other different shapes and types
including ones with spit-cane seats, simulated mahogany or ebony-stained
frames, etc.

The chairs were made in at least two sizes, one for adults and the
other for children.  Many were ornately carved, often with Edelweiss
swags.  This high Alpine plant is attributed to beauty, purity and
dedicated love!

Marquetry often features the mountain 'goat' such as the chamois
(a European species of antelope) or the true wild goat known as the
ibis or steenbok.  The earliest seem to date from the 1880s and were
popular up to about the 1920s.  Several different woods were used but
walnut was common.  Some were apparently made as a set with an
armchair.

Most musical movements have two airs, one for each complete turn of
the cylinder.  A typical movement may have a 3-inch long cylinder with
about 50+ comb teeth.  The airs change automatically by means of a
snail cam but sometimes by that ingenious mechanism in the form of a
pivoted cruciform with flat ends.  One leg is longer than the other.
As the cylinder rotates, a slot filed in the cylinder end-cap engages
one leg of the cruciform and rotates it 90 degrees.

Thus the cylinder shifts along its axis from long-to-short-to-long-to
short and so on as the cylinder rotates.  The cylinder is held in
contact with snail cam and cruciform by means of a spring.  Some chairs
are known to have four airs but I have no details.  Also, others have
a tune change lever extending under the seat for manual change.

The children's game of 'musical chairs' seems lost in obscurity.  One
unconfirmed reference claims that the chair makers found a novel way
to play the game by inserting a musical movement.  The chair would be
placed amongst ordinary ones either in a circle or in two lines
back-to-back.  The players walked around the circle whilst the music
from the chair's music box played.  Whoever sat on the chair and
stopped the music had to leave the game and an ordinary chair was
removed.  The last child remaining won.

Most will recall this game of musical chairs played without a musical
chair!  In my childhood it was a 'wind-up' gramophone that was started
and stopped by the unfortunate host who witnessed children gyrating
around an assortment of household chairs at alarming speeds.  Happy
days!

Paul Bellamy