Just like “aloha” means much more than just “hello” or “goodbye,” the shaka is more than just a simple greeting or gesture of thanks. Saying “aloha” means that there is mutual regard and affection for the other person. It is acknowledging the importance of each and every individual in collective existence. This same core value is reflected in the shaka. The simple gesture symbolizes reverence, solidarity, compassion, and friendship. It is a sign of respect and mutual understanding for the recipient.
This mosaic is strong and joyful. A beautiful creation, one of many, by Barbara Wagner. She creates from both stained glass and broken pieces of china. She is self-taught and amazingly talented.
The link in the quote above also has a fun video describing the ‘history’ of the shaka wave with a good deal of humor! Having a daughter who now lives in Hawaii with her family, Barbara has had a wonderful opportunity to experience the goodwill of the islands.
Art & Antique Shops
It’s really wonderful to see the many ways that antiques and collectibles can be recycled/upcycled with the amazing creativity of crafters and artists. Barbara Wagner (yes, beautiful wife of George) has found her artistic side creating outstanding mosaics from broken pieces of china. So nothing goes to waste at Bahoukas.
In case you’re curious. We found this easy-to-understand blog post explaining the difference between a stained glass and a mosaic glass piece. CLICK HERE to read it.
Framed mosaic “Water” and two ornaments (star and heart) – stained glass mosaics by Barbara Wagner of GreenJoy
Tap Handle
A unique mosaic with colors of the Maryland Flag created by Barbara available at Bahoukas. This would make a perfect gift for that person who has their own beer on tap in their basement mancave or collects unusual beer taps.
Daisies in a Vase
This is one of my favorites created by Barbara. I love the 3-D effect created by using 1/2 of a tiny vase.
Ready to Play Games?
These beautifully crafted mosaic game tables make a wonderful statement: you love games, you appreciate art, and you’re ready to play! No matter your choice – checkers or chess – the beautiful mosaic games tables are a creation to be seen to be truly appreciated.
Stop by Bahoukas
View the amazing stained glass and broken china pieces mosaics created just in time for a perfect holiday gift.
We know it’s only a few days until Halloween. But if you’re planning on baking some cookies, you may want to stop in and purchase this delightful and collectible set of metal cookie cutters celebrating Halloween.
But did you know you can use these metal cookie cutters to also help you carve pumpkins?
We found this amazing blog post on the many ways you might use cookie cutters to create everything from designs on your toast, little hearts on pizza, to holiday ornaments.
Make cookies or cut sandwiches with cookie cutters in the perfect designs:
Diamonds – Hearts – Spades – Clubs!
Metal cookie cutters: round, bell, heart (this one is from the 1930s), star and horse
Plan ahead for the coming holidays
Along with the miscellaneous cookie cutters above, we also have these delightful designs that are just perfect for the holidays. The dark tin ones are from the 1930s, the Halloween ones are from the 70s, and the others are probably 50s to 70s.
Metal cookie cutters for the holidays – the dark tin ones are from the 1930s. Candy Cane, Snowman, Gingerbread Man, Santa, and Christmas Tree
We’re here…
We want to make the coming holidays easy for you, fun for everyone, and a bit unique. Stop in and see what you might find for a perfect gift, a great addition to your decorating, or to find an item that makes your creativity blossom when you make your special holiday gifts.
Have you ever looked at these strange items and wondered what the heck they are? Well, wonder no more. We’ve got the squeal on the deal!
… a really fun collectible
A selection of porcelain insulators at Bahoukas
Glass insulators come in hundreds of distinct styles, shapes and sizes; and hundreds of different colors (in all colors of the rainbow)! What could be prettier than a glass “rainbow” in your kitchen window – with each different color glowing as the sun shines in? Insulators have also been made in porcelain, wood, rubber, plastic, and iron.
When you add to this the amount of different embossings, base types (with or without drip points, different styles of drip points, etc.) there are literally thousands of different insulators available.
If you don’t like large collectibles, you can go as small as 2 inches. If you perfer BIG, many insulators are available in sizes over a foot across and a foot tall.
Many started the collections to put on a window sill to catch the sunlight. Then like many behaviors, the collection grew and soon becomes … well … a bit larger than you ever expected.
Another variety of insulators
Some insulators date back to 1844, with the inception of the telegraph. (They were used to hold wires off the ground.) They are real pieces of history that you can hold in your hand and put on a shelf.
Some porcelain insulators are still being made (although most cities are putting most of the power and telephone lines underground without insulators), but production of glass insulators ceased in 1969.
Insulators have made it through wars (including the Civil War), being buried for years, or just being unnoticed for 100 years or more in a remote area. Many have survived the gunshots from cowboys of old and little boys of late; and many wooden insulators were not destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake and fire.
The early telegraph lines paralleled the transcontinental railroad, and insulators became an integral part of railroad safety.
If you’re curious and want to know a wee bit more before starting your collection, this video below will definitely help.
When you’re ready to get started, or you want to add an insulator or two to your collection, stop in and see what we have. Yes sir (or m’am), we’ll be waitin’ for ya!
We have a full collection of Imperial Knives from the 1970s. These knives were recognized for excellent prices and fair quality. They were made in the U.S. until the late 80s from everything we could find.
Imperial Cutlery has been producing great knives for incredible prices for over 100 years.
… The prices are amazing, the quality is fair. You get more than what you pay for.
Complete Set of Imperial Diamond Edge Knives (1970s) Made in the U.S.
Other Knives in our collection
Pocket Knives
Along with the above Imperial Knives Collection, we have an assortment of other knives from small penknives to larger pocket knives.
A Bit of Pocket Knife History
The earliest known pocket knives date to at least the early Iron Age. A pocketknife with a bone handle was found at the Hallstatt Culture type site in Austria, dating to around 600–500 BCE. Iberian folding-blade knives made by indigenous artisans and craftsmen and dating to the pre-Roman era have been found in Spain. Many folding knives from the Viking era have been found. They carried some friction binders, but more often they seem to have used folding knives that used a closure to keep the blade open.
Roman Archeological find of the Roman period of a folding or pocket knife and reconstruction, original found at Gellep, Germany
You know, it’s time to begin your holiday shopping. Do you have an adult in your life that would appreciate the gift of a pocket knife? Well, you know, we’re here and ready to help. Yep, we’re watchin’ for ya!
Many have fond memories of their milkman delivering local milk in bottles. Some even remember having an insulated box that sat outside the door for the milkman to place your bottles.
Wonderful Local Collection
Bahoukas has acquired an extensive local collection of Havre de Grace milk bottles. Besides George’s personal collection, we have plenty to share.
Dairies often embossed their name, logo, or initials onto the base of their milk bottles. This made it easy to identify their bottles at stores and bottle exchanges. Since milk bottles were used over and over again, it was important for a dairy to get their milk bottles back after use. The more times a milk bottle was used, the more profit for the dairy.
There are so many delightful ways to use these bottles besides just having them in a collection, sitting on a shelf.
Fill with colored water and place on a window sill. Better yet, add some fresh flowers.
Maybe you have a collection – like different colored sands or buttons – that would look lovely kept in these bottles.
Don’t forget the rest of our milk bottle collection!
We have an extensive collection of milk bottles. Here’s a pic:
Huge collection of milk bottles at Bahoukas Antiques
Don’t forget that these would make interesting flower or candle holders for a wedding or other special events. Stop in and look over this collection. You know, we’ll be watchin’ for ya!
The Panasonic RQ-830S Dynamite 8 Track Tape Player was introduced in 1974.
It is very easy to use, as Panasonic wrote down in their advertising:
“Slide in the tape. Out booms the music from an explosive-sounding dynamic speaker. Then push the plunger to change your channel and to change your tune.”
You can thus only change the volume and push the plunger to change your favorite song. Although its limited features, this 8 Track Player was considered to be one of the most innovative track players, also because of its design.
It works on batteries but also an adaptor is available.
Thereby, it was possible to take your music along with you, like in your car, on the street, on the beach …
This 8 track player was an interesting piece that worked by hitting the plunger like on a detonator for dynamite to change the channel/track! See below to see how it works…
They came in Deonator Red, Bomb Blue, and Explosion Yellow! We are pretty sure they later came in black and white versions.
8-track in your cars!
8-track players had a relatively short life and were followed by a more versatile cassette player. So a ‘fix’ was created so that you could play your new collection of cassette tapes through the 8-track player in your car.
Cassette Adaptor for your car’s 8-track player by Audiovox
How the Cassette to 8-track worked
If you have a vintage car with its original 8-track player, you may the above video as it also goes into detail to make the converter work for cassette/8-track to mp3.
Stop in soon. We’re having fun here at Bahoukas and we’re watchin’ for ya!
In 1968, tempered glass sphere models emerged that would eventually shatter, sending glass shards into the face of the user and anyone nearby. In the early 1970s, manufacturers changed them to plastic spheres suspended on each string. When they were swung up and down, banging against each other with a lot of force they made the loud “clacking” sound. Clackers are similar in appearance to bolas, the Argentine weapon. They are formed out of two solid balls of polymer, each about 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter, attached to a finger tab with a sturdy string. The player holds the tab with the balls hanging below and through up-and-down hand motion makes the two balls swing apart and back together, making the clacking noise that gives the toy its name. With practice one can make the balls swing so that they knock together both above and below the hand.
Clackers have also made some appearances in pop culture media. They are featured in the television shows of Dan Schneider, most notably the 2007 episode of Drake & Josh, “Megan’s First Kiss,” and in the 2008 Zoey 101 episode “Rumor of Love”, which described the toys as “the hottest in the 1993 Netherlands”, and which increased interest in the toys. Clackers were a plot point in the 1993 “Love and Sausages” episode of The Kids in the Hall TV series. They were also used as weapons by Joseph Joestar, the protagonist of the “Battle Tendency” arc of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure; their appearance there is anachronistic, as “Battle Tendency” takes place in 1938.
Or maybe you just remember driving your mom crazy with the ‘clacker’ sound!!! Check out this video!!
Showing you how Clackers – also known as “Knuckle Busters” – work!
DIRECTIONS FOR USING
Directions for using Clacker Balls
We don’t recommend using these since they are the originals and we don’t want anyone hurt. But if you’re a collector of toys, they’ll be a great addition!
EXPLODING CLACKER BALLS
Did you ever have the clacker balls explode? Evidently, it created quite a stir. At one point the FDA, Society for the Prevention of Blindness, and even the Consumer Product Safety Commission deemed them a hazard. Read more about them by CLICKING HERE
It appears that you can still get Clacker Balls. They are made of plastic and do not shatter. The noise will still make one crazy. (chuckle)
Don’t forget to stop in soon. We’re watchin’ for ya!
During the 1970s phone subscribers were permitted to own decorative housings for their phones for the first time. Teleconcepts was one of the pioneers that provided innovative decorative phones.
This unique and quite charming clamshell phone is the “Shellamar” by Teleconcepts. It has a retractable fabric cord and YES, it absolutely works. I believe the color would be ‘caramel.’
Did you know deregulation brought us these phone designs?
The Deregulated Phone The 1977 breakup of AT&T revolutionized telephone design, which had been, as Michael Sorkin noted, “sheltered from the vagaries of taste and the manipulations of the marketplace.” The phone was no longer a standardized, leased portal into AT&T’s network; it became an object unto itself, with results that verged on a kind of giddy kitsch, as if people were overcompensating for the long gray-flannel winter. “Today Alexander Graham Bell’s invention comes in a menagerie of forms,” the New York Times wrote in 1986, “that include Coca-Cola bottles, toucans, peekaboo Lucite globes and, in the case of the desk-top Versailles phone, with a reproduction Renoir discreetly planted in the number card.”
Cabbage Patch phone, Turkey phone, Airplane phone The Farmer’s Novelty Phones/gifarmer.com; Shoe phone dldt via ebay. from SLATE.com
What fun it is to consider the changing look and feel of telephones and the continuing changes from big, boxy, cell phones to our modern-day ‘smart’ phone where the telephone function is a small part of the instrument!
In 1973, the company came up with a prototype of the world’s first portable cellular telephone, using the DynaTAC (Dynamic Adaptive Total Area Coverage) system. In the year 1983, the world’s first commercial hand-held cellular phone, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X phone, got FCC’s approval.
Weighing in at 28-ounce (794-gram), it went on sale the following year. The device used to take 10 hours to fully charge, and offered around 30 minutes of talk-time. Capable of saving last 30 dialed numbers, it carried a price tag of $3,995.
The phone had long appeared in advertisements in the hands of executives as they sat in their cocoons of power, surveying their empire below, but a new kind of power was typified in the 1987 film Wall Street, in which Michael Douglas’ Gordon Gekko clutches a Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. “Oh, jeez, I wish you could see this,” he tells Bud Fox, as he walks a Hamptons beach, “the lights coming up over the water.” It’s like an advertisement for dominion over place: You can’t be here, but I can, and I’m going to use this wonderful instrument to remind you of that fact. A descendent of Motorola’s walkie-talkie work for the military (and looking like it), the DynaTAC, designed by Rudy Krolopp, came on the market in 1984, at just below $4,000 and 28 ounces.
The LUCITE CLAMSHELL PHONE is a beautiful collectible from 50 years ago that reminds many of us just how quickly things have changed. We look forward to showing you this great piece and any collection ‘of our many collections’ that you might want to peruse. Yes… we are watchin’ for ya!
We’ve posted about our cast iron figures many times. To see other posts, VISIT HERE.
Cast Iron Banks
Several of our cast-iron figures are actually banks. Great way to encourage a little saver to collect those coins found on the sidewalk!
The lion is a cast iron bank. The others are outstanding cast iron paperweights or perfect for a shelf!
Cast iron dog figures. The one on the right is also a bank.
cast iron cow
Closer detail of the fox and the lion cast iron figures
Are these just the cutest cast iron dog figurines!
Here, at Bahoukas Antiques, we have a wonderfully diverse collection of cast iron figures that also include mechanical banks and huge door knockers. Some are vintage and very collectible, while others are reproductions. All of them are beautiful! Stop in soon. Yeppir, we’ll be watchin’ for ya!
Bob Lackey is no stranger to Havre de Grace, having lived here for 23 years. He shares in his bio:
Robert Lackey is a native of Havre de Grace, Maryland, by way of Leonardtown, Maryland, and Mt. Airy, North Carolina, plus thirty-five other brief addresses in the U.S. and Europe. Robert has been a writer, soldier, photographer, and administrator, but always comes back to his writing.
He briefly explains on his website that he shares Havre de Grace’s history through the characters of Ben and Sonja Pulaski.
Maryland is a slave state, bordering the free state of Pennsylvania. The line between them is the Mason-Dixon line. Both Ben and Sonja grew up around that “peculiar institution” of slavery. The Pulaski Saga follows them, as they awaken to the moral issues of slavery and are drawn into individual acts that become a commitment to helping runaway slaves escape to the north.
with a vivid imagination,” Robert F. Lackey shares a bit of his journey with the Pulaski Saga in this interview with Barbara Evers. It can be found on her website.
Robert (Bob) Lackey keeps the adventure rolling in each of his 10-part series while giving us a great deal of Havre de Grace history in a most enjoyable way. Stop in soon and look over the series. A great idea for a gift for anyone who enjoys adventure and history – especially if they’ve been to Havre de Grace, MD.
Back to school, whether at home or in the school building, means reading! Growing up, I’m sure many parents (and definitely grandparents) remember The Golden Book series. Here at Bahoukas Antiques, we have a wonderful selection of Golden Books and many other books for children and teens.
In October 2022, Golden Books will celebrate 80 years!
Golden Books – old and new
Everyone Loves Golden Books
More choices from Golden Books
Golden Books First Published in 1942
If by some chance you aren’t familiar with Golden Books, here’s great article about them.
Little Golden Books offers a fun unique appearance. Did you know a copy of The Poky Little Puppy bought today is essentially the same as one printed in 1942?
Both copies are readily recognizable as Little Golden Books. At the time of the series’ golden anniversary in 1992, Golden Books claimed that a billion and a half Little Golden Books had been sold. Could you imagine creating a product and selling that much of what you created?
In the above Mommies Reviews , they suggest using Golden Books as part of your homeschooling lesson plans. CLICK HERE for some printable pages you can use with the Golden Books to encourage more reading among your young students.
October 1, 1942: Little Golden Books launch at 25 cents each, democratizing reading for young Americans. At this time, children’s books sell for $2 to $3 and are a luxury for many families.
The Pokey Little Puppy is the best-selling Little Golden Book of all time!
So, as the days grow shorter and the shadows longer, give your young students a great way to love reading. Stop by and pick out a few Golden Books to start their library. Remember, Christmas Holidays aren’t far away! And for sure, we’ll be watchin’ for ya!
It is always intriguing the items you can find in our shop. These Brodie Knobs, also known as ‘suicide knobs’ are just one of those unique finds!
Let’s look into the background of these “Brodie Knobs” which teens from the 50s and maybe early 60s will remember:
The “Steering Wheel Spinner Knob” was invented by Joel R. Thorp of Wisconsin in 1936. The Brodie name is a reference to Steve Brodie and was meant to describe all manner of reckless stunts. The device is often called a “suicide knob” because of being notoriously useless for controlling the wheel during an emergency. It is also called a “knuckle buster” because of the disadvantage posed by the knob when letting go of the steering wheel after going around a corner, the wheel spins rapidly and the knob can hit the user’s knuckle, forearm, or elbow. If the driver is wearing a long-sleeved shirt, the protruding accessory on the rim of the steering wheel can also become caught in the sleeve’s open cut by the button. Other names include “granny knob” “necker’s knob” and “wheel spinner.”
Contrary to popular opinion, these Brodie Knobs are not illegal. You can check outthis post and do your own research.
As we love to do, here’s another interesting tidbit for those of you not familiar with these Brodie Knobs:
The term “necker knobs” came about when it was discovered that the driver could steer his car one-handed and wrap his free arm around his girlfriend, who was usually resting her head on the driver’s shoulder.
To some folks, these tiny things are just ‘stuff.’ To the artist or collector, they’re a gold mine, priceless.
We’ve seen these ‘tinies’ added to shadow boxes, used to create jewelry, and destined for someone’s very special collection.
A case of “Tinies,” also known as Tchotchkes.
No matter how you might use them, we have a number of tiny collectibles in our store just waiting for you to find them! Yesiree… we’ll be watchin’ for ya!
We’ve not been able to find a lot about this piece – a German stoneware wine cask/dispenser in Cobalt blue and white. We did find a similar piece on an auction site. CLICK HERE to view it.
Thanks to Edel Patterson, owner of Edel’s Bridal Shop here in Havre de Grace, we are able to give you the translation on this beautiful wine dispenser/cask.
Iss, was gar ist. Trink, was klar ist. Sprich, was wahr ist. Lieb, was rar ist.
In English, it translates as follows and is from Martin Luther:
Eat what is done. Drink what is clear. Speak what is true. Love what is rare.
This piece recently arrived at Bahoukas and it’s truly exquisite!
While we’re discussing wine casks/dispensers, have you ever wondered who might have the World’s Largest Wine Barrel?
World’s Largest Wine Barrel
Well, wonder no more… within the cellars of the Heidelberg Castle in German, is the Heidelberg Tun:
The Heidelberg Tun (German: Großes Fass), or Great Heidelberg Tun, is an extremely large wine vat contained within the cellars of Heidelberg Castle. There have been four such barrels in the history of Heidelberg. In 1751, the year of its construction, the present one had a capacity of 221,726 litres (58,574 U.S. gallons). Due to the drying of the wood its current capacity is 219,000 litres (57,854 U.S. gallons). One hundred and thirty oak trees were reputedly used in its construction. It has only rarely been used as a wine barrel, and in fact presently enjoys more use as a tourist attraction, and also as a dance floor since one was constructed on top of the tun.
Located in the cellars of the Heidelberg Castle is this mammoth wine barrel. Check out the size of the people around it and the stairway to the right that takes you up to the top landing. WOW!
Now that we’ve piqued your interest. Stop in and see the beautiful stoneware wine cask. And, of course, we’re watchin’ for ya!
A Toby Jug is a figural ceramic jug. Each jug is molded in the shape of a notable character. Historically, Toby Jugs feature a hearty man holding a mug in one hand and sporting a tricorn hat. His hat doubles as a pouring spout. Each character is outfitted in typical period fashions.
From the same source as above, we learn that there are Toby Jugs, Toby Mugs, and Toby Character Jugs.
Toby Jugs: A Toby Jug is a figural jug that depicts a character’s entire body. Original Toby Jugs showed a seated man, sporting a tricorn hat, puffing on a pipe, and holding a mug of ale. Toby Jugs also must have a spout, designating that it’s used to pour a liquid.
Toby Mugs: A Toby Mug is a Toby Jug that doesn’t have a spout. Without a spout, it’s used for drinking, so it’s a mug.
Character Jug: A Character Jug is a jug that only displays a character’s bust (head, face, and sometimes shoulders).
There are competing theories for the origin of the name “Toby Jug”. One is that it was named after the intoxicated, jovial character of Sir Toby Belch in Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night. Another is that it was named after a notorious 18th-century Yorkshire drinker, Henry Elwes, who was known as “Toby Fillpot” (or Philpot), who was mentioned in an old English drinking song The Brown Jug, the popular verses of which were first published in 1761.
This fine collection just recently arrived at Bahoukas Antiques and Beer MuZeum. Now that you know ‘more of the story,’ you may want to add a couple to your own collections or gift as a gift.
The history of the Royal Doulton Company is intriguing in its own right. They manufactured ceramic sewage pipes, toilets, taps, and cast iron baths. But they later manufactured architectural stoneware. It’s a most interesting company. Read more about Royal Doultonby clicking here.
Of course, with this knowledge, we encourage you to stop in and take a peek at this collection. And yes, we’ll be watchin’ for ya.
Well, maybe you don’t like to sew. But these thread cabinets could easily be upcycled for any unique project you might have.
DID YOU KNOW THREAD SPOOLS WERE ONCE RECYCLED?
It was not until about 1800 that manufactured cotton thread was available to the hand sewers in the United States and Europe. Before that, textiles were sewn with silk or linen thread, and rarely homespun cotton or wool thread. At first, they were sold in hanks as some yarns still are. Thread came on wooden spools beginning about 1820. Like our beverage bottles, the spools could be returned for a deposit, to be refilled. In the mid-19th century, during the Industrial Revolution, textile manufacturing processes were some of the first to be modernized including the manufacture of cotton sewing thread.
Maybe you collect small items and the drawers would be perfect to store them and pull them out for display. Or possibly, you love notepaper and cards. These drawers might be perfect for keeping your collection. OR!!! Possibly a perfect place to store sheets of wrapping paper or even your artwork!
Love More History of Threads?
Images from DuPont’s nylon production plant in Wilmington, Delaware, 1938 (clockwise from top left). Mike McCall pours nylon chips into a hopper; the chips will be melted, measured out and filtered before being spun into filament. An unidentified worker oversees the operation of a draw twister, which twists polymer fibers into thread. Violet Grenda inspects skeins of nylon yarn. Joseph X. Labovsky Collection, Science History Institute
DuPont in Wilmington, DE in the 1940s manufactured fully synthetic nylon thread. During WWII it was very difficult for women to get hosiery because they were made from silk thread, imported from Japan. DuPont worked to create a substitute that we know as ‘nylon stockings.’ If I remember correctly, the late Phil Barker, a former mayor of Havre de Grace, first worked at DuPont. He started out just cleaning, working up to ‘doffing’ – removing empty spools from the machines.
Of course, you probably have a very unique idea for using one or both of these beautiful 1800s sewing thread cabinets. Let us know how YOU might use them! Yes, we’re here and we’re watchin’ for ya!
Okay, maybe that’s not a real word. But a person who collects “petroliana” is collecting gasoline and the oil business memborabilia.
Gas Stations on Every Corner
In the early days of automobile travel, service stations were unfamiliar and often poorly lit at night. So lighted gas-pump globes and other oil company signage were key to reassuring and drawing in motorists. And since pumping gas was a new experience, early pumps allowed motorists to see if the gasoline was clean (through a small glass window), and later to watch the price as the gas was pumped (a major innovation).
Do you remember when every busy intersection had a gas station on each corner? How many different brand names do you remember?
Reproduction Gasoline Signage at Bahoukas
We wonder if there will be similar scenes where there will be electric charging stations everywhere designed to keep our cars and trucks moving? What do you think?
Stop in and chat. Since a number of folks ask for these fun collectibles, we found a nice selection for you to browse. Think holiday gift-giving!! It’s not too early to start – after all, 14 weekends from now you’ll be open gifts under the tree. WOW! And, of course, we’ll be watchin’ for ya!
The history of the music box is much more complex than one might think beginning with the Middle Ages.
The first known music box was the carillon. This was very prominent in the Middle Ages mostly because it is what they called the very mechanism that told the people the time. It was also normally attached to a large bell which is struck by a hammer every hour to help tell time.
Then in 1796, we learn of clockmaker Antoine Favre-Salomon:
The clockmaker Antoine Favre-Salomon, a native of Geneva, invented a musical pocket watch in 1796. Since then he is considered to be the inventor of the music box, and Sainte-Croix became the world capital of mechanical music. Music automatons are still produced here.
This music box opens to place jewelry or powder and still works.
This music box still works in spite of looking well-used.
This music box is a larger and egg shape.
American soldiers returning home after the Second World War were the unwitting creators of a real trend by bringing music boxes back in their luggage, a symbol of victory and a new life about to begin. Thus, it was then that a keen interest developed for the little Swiss musical movements from the other side of the Atlantic that were fitted into all sorts of products.
As we’ve learned here, some of the simplest collectibles have a unique and colorful history. If you delve into the music box history, you’ll also realize that they’re connected to Edison’s invention of the phonograph. (We have some old phonographs as well! Just in case you were wondering.)
The weather’s turning a bit cooler and it’s a pleasant time of year to browse our shops. So you know, we’ll be watchin’ for ya.
