This small and detailed music box is believed to have been used in a Schoharie County tavern. The “Regina Music Box” was pruduced by Henry Gautschi & Sons, Manufacturers and Importers. The Swiss based company was formed in 1824 and moved all operations to 1030 Chestnut Street in the city of Philadelphia by the late 1890s.
The music box is in the traditional cylinder style which produces sounds by the use of a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder. Two controls along the right side of the box are used to start and stop the music, as well as set it repeat musical pieces or rotate between them. This box includes six separate songs:
- Home Sweet Home
- The Mocking bird
- The Blue Bells of Scotland
- Old Folks at Home
- Sweet By & By
- Robin Adair
The music box was donated to the collections of the Schoharie County Historical Society by Mrs. Walter MC Gill in memory of Archibald H. Smith and his wife Ruth Brand Smith, of Schoharie, NY.
