Good Morning,  A couple weeks ago I bought the base of an automaton
by Gustav Rebicek [or Rzebitschek], made around 1880 in Prague (Prag), 
Austria.

In the base is a two-tune, reverse comb musical box movement made by
Rebicek.  On top of the base (about 13" x 7" X 3") there would have
been a grand piano, a lady playing the piano, a seated director with
a baton, and a little girl dancing.  Unfortunately, all the figures
and the piano are missing.

On YouTube there are a couple of videos showing it in operation
(including the inner workings) so I can probably recreate the mechanism
by scaling the pictures.  See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20Nzgd77mMM 

I have also found 3 or 4 pictures of the missing parts on the Internet
but they are all from different angles and distances so it's sort of
difficult to determine measurements.

I contacted the person who posted the videos on YouTube but he said
that he had sold the automaton to someone in England a few years ago.

If you have one of these automata with a piano and a dancing child, or
you know someone who has one or you know where there is one, I'd really
appreciate hearing from you.

There are several variations.  For example, some of them did not have
the child and the figures and costumes are usually different.  Any
version would be helpful.

My purpose is to request some pictures and measurements so that I can
replace the missing parts.  I'll attach a picture of the complete
automaton.

Thank you for any help you can provide.

Regards,
Craig Smith
near Rochester, New York, USA

 [ Rebicek musical automaton about 1880
 [ http://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/17/06/26/170626_070709_Closeup%206.JPG 

 [ MMD articles about this maker are indexed at
 [ http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/KWIC/R/rzebitschek.html 
 [ and http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/KWIC/R/rebicek.html 
 [ -- Robbie