MUSICAL BOX OF THE SWISS FIRM “TROLL & BAKER” (THE END OF THE 19TH CENTURY– START OF THE 20TH CENTURY) FROM THE FUNDS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF HISTORY OF UKRAINE

Abstract

The article is dedicated to “Troll & Baker” musical box from the funds of the National Museum of Ukrainian History. It specifies the time and place of production (between 1890 and 1906 in Geneva, Switzerland). The functional features of the musical box have been also clarified. The way of its admission to the NMUH has been analyzed. It was probably done to the Kyivan vet’s (M. Slisarevskyi) individual order, and was sold to the museum in the Soviet times (before 1941). The process of the origin and technical improvement of the musical boxes during the end of the 18th – 19th centuries is described as well as the implementation of these improvements in the musical boxes by “Troll & Baker”. The article offers the detailed physical description of the box along with the argumentation of the status of the designated music box as one of its kind, according to the unusual design features and creating to the individual order.
Keywords: musical box, Troll & Backer, cylinder musical box, Georg Backer, Fill Troll, Samuel Troll, Geneva, musical box with interchangeable cylinders, air card, dempher, duetino, picolo, M. P. Slisarevskyi