569 - A. Olbrich Vienna, Cylinder Musical Movement in a Wooden Case, Function Tested

A. Olbrich Vienna, Cylinder Musical Movement in a Wooden Case, Function Tested Metal, wood. Cylinder musical movement with a pinned cylinder and a tuned comb on a brass bedplate, mounted in a rectangular wooden case with a hinged lid. The steel comb plate marked „A. Olbrich" and „Wien", the brass bedplate numbered „No. 60 16930". Spring barrel with gear train, at the side a crank handle with a wooden knob for winding. The case painted red-brown on the outside, the lid with a monogram scratched in later, the underside screwed and bearing a handwritten pencil note. Function tested. Condition commensurate with age, two comb teeth broken off, the case with heavy traces of use and losses to the paint. Overall 30x13.5x9.5 cm (HxWxD) In a cylinder musical movement a brass cylinder set with fine pins runs along a steel comb; each pin plucks a tooth whose length determines the pitch. The number of teeth governs the compass, the length of the cylinder the playing time. Alongside Switzerland and the Black Forest, Vienna was a centre of this production. Broken teeth are the most frequent damage to such movements, because the thin steel tongues break if the cylinder is allowed to tilt; they can be replaced by a specialist.