Collecting Music Boxes, Coins, and More
By Q. David Bowers

Recently our friend Marty Roenigk, who hails from Eureka Springs, Arkansas, wrote an interesting article, “My Philosophy on Collecting Antique Mechanical Music.” Coins were mentioned prominently.

Marty and his wife Elise, who used to live near Hartford, Connecticut, moved to Eureka Springs a few years ago and purchased two resort hotels from the Victorian era—the Crescent and the Basin. The Crescent in particular has been a well known historical stopping place for many people and has been widely featured in the media. You can check it out on the Internet.

While Marty and Elise “collect” hotels, they also collect automatic musical instruments—in the form of music boxes, coin-operated pianos, band organs, and the like. They have been active in the field for many years. At one time Marty was president of the Musical Box Society International, and for a long time Elise was treasurer.

Today, along with other business enterprises, they conduct Mechantiques, a seller of such automatic musical instruments. If you are in the market for a Regina automatic disc-changing music box, a classic (and we enjoy ours a lot), he has a remarkable seven for sale, at $19,000 each.
 

Back to the article, which you can read in its entirety on the Mechantiques website. Marty related that he had been involved with music boxes for some 40 years and had been dealing in them for over 35 years.

Then:  “Prior to mechanical music, I was an avid collector of coins, having compiled a pretty extensive collection of United States half dollars.”

He went on to say that on one fine day while going to a coin shop, he came across a disc music box. “It was so intriguing that it kicked off a lifetime of interest in mechanical music.” One thing led to another, he saw other instruments, read a lot, and became deeply involved. While maintaining a casual interest in coins, he emphasized music boxes and related things, and went on to the accomplishments just mentioned.

He then gave some differences between collecting coins and collecting music boxes.

He noted that coins have problems concerning counterfeiting, such as the recent feature in Coin World about several businesses in China turning out copies of United States coins, nonchalantly and without any interference. Such fakes are commonly sold in Internet auctions, antique shops, and elsewhere, and certainly can be a threat to anyone seeking bargains.
 

In contrast, while music boxes can be replicated or reproduced, the word “counterfeiting” is not appropriate, as new versions differ slightly. Also, as Marty points out, the modern units are often more expensive than the originals, gaining no commercial advantage for anyone making them.

Then there is the matter of security for a collection: “It takes a lot more time and effort to steal a few music boxes or coin operated pianos than it does to steal a briefcase full of coins or a pillowcase full of sterling silver.”

This is true. It would take a dedicated burglar and several helpers a lot of time to remove a coin-operated piano from a collection, and once done, what would he or she do with it? The field of enthusiasts is very limited, most people know each other, and the instrument could be quickly identified as each has a different wood grain and certain other aspects, making them easy to identify from photographs. Besides, a lot of work would be involved. Some larger instruments would be completely impossible to steal—such as a theatre pipe organ.

Another advantage of collecting music boxes, Marty says, is that these are “far lower relative to rarity and original cost than in almost any other field. We can buy fine antique music boxes today for roughly the inflation adjusted original cost of that music box. And the better pieces are exceptionally scarce, far scarcer than the better pieces in most other collecting fields. The rarest coins routinely sell for over $1,000,000. A Honus Wagner baseball card can sell for $500,000. A fine vintage Ferrari, more akin to our mechanical music, will set you back $400,000 to $800,000 or potentially much more, and yet cannot be considered to be rare by any classical definition. You can buy truly exceptional antique mechanical musical instruments for well under $50,000.”

Further from Marty, “Imagine—I believe I could put together one of the very finest and largest truly world-class collections of antique mechanical music for the price of just one of dozens of paintings, classical or contemporary, selling at Sotheby’s or Christie’s last year for more than $5,000,000 each…”

More: “Somebody said, ‘music warms the soul.’ It certainly does something to calm me down and take me away from the problems of the day to day world. And when I can listen to music played on marvelous antique technology that sound exactly (assuming proper restoration of course!) like they did when the original owner listened to them 100 years ago, I am transported to another time, truly ‘someplace in time.’ What a wonderful respite.” And, in conclusion, “Is antique mechanical music a good investment? Who knows what is a good investment today? … It doesn’t hurt to have some tangible assets in these turbulent times.”

Your editor, as an avid collector of music boxes and coin operated pianos, and also a lifelong devotee of coins, tokens, medals, and paper money, was moved to send a comment to Marty (who has been a good friend for many years). I suggested that “there is no need to be negative on one subject to strengthen the positive aspects of another.”

I suggested that perhaps coins are a bit more easily graded, shipped, stored, and understood than are music boxes and coin-operated pianos. They are also more easily bought and sold. If someone has a Proof 1895 Morgan silver dollar in a grade such as to be worth $50,000, it could be sent to an auction, say one of our own sales here at Stack’s, illustrated, catalogued, and it would appeal to many thousands of potential buyers. They would know what the coin is, be familiar with its grade, have some idea of market value, and would have a desire to own it. If consigned to our next sale it would be sold within the next two or three months, and the proceeds could be banked shortly afterwards.

In contrast, if someone had a 1895 Mermod Frères twenty-four inch interchangeable cylinder music box in nice condition, with matching table, and valued about the same as the 1895 Proof Morgan dollar, this would be more difficult to sell. It is every bit as desirable, and the owner of the music box would appreciate it just as much as would the owner of the silver dollar. In fact, perhaps even more so, as the music box could entertain family and friends with a program of melodies. However, offered for sale, there would probably not be more than a couple hundred people worldwide who know exactly what such a Mermod Frères music box is and what it is worth. And, if they did buy it, they would have to arrange for handling and shipping. If one were for sale in, say, Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and someone in Zurich, Switzerland wanted to buy it, it would require extensive customs documentation, packing and shipping, and expense ranging into four figures. In contrast, the Proof 1895 dollar could be shipped by Federal Express and would arrive in a day or two.

Upon receiving such a fine music box—and this is indeed a classic well worth owning—the owner could keep it in his or her home, or even loan it to a museum, and would not have to worry much about it being stolen. In contrast, very few people would keep a Proof 1895 Morgan silver dollar on view in the living room, and no one would put it on a stand in a museum, unprotected, where people could pass by.

All of this said, the discussion, while interesting, may not be particularly relevant. One could go on and on.

In a little note to Marty after reading his article, I said that I like music boxes, but I also like my 1787 Ryder-15 Vermont Draped Bust copper, although that particular item I have to keep in a bank safe deposit box (but I do have a nice photograph of it). I also enjoy Currier and Ives prints, some of which are in the Stack’s office, and, for that matter, I enjoy our family alley cat (a gift from Brent Pogue, a feral cat that was found on his ranch in Texas, but has since become one of the sweetest animals this side of heaven), and our Labrador Retriever.

It seems to me that collecting music boxes and collecting coins cannot be logically compared. They are so different. Perhaps enjoyment of ownership is a common thread, but there is not much else.

And, they are not mutually exclusive. One can collect music boxes and also collect coins.

I suggested that a well rounded coin collector would do well to have a couple antique prints, possibly a music box or two, certainly some old books, and other classic objects from history. These contribute to intellectual inquiry and the enjoyment of life. Similarly, someone who collects music boxes would probably enjoy owning a Proof 1895 Morgan silver dollar, if they could afford $50,000, or for 1/100th of that amount, or just a few hundred dollars, a Morgan dollar struck in Carson City. These items are infinitely interesting. Also, if one runs out of space in collecting pianos—certainly easy to do, this is not likely to happen when collecting coins.

No one hobby exists to the exclusion of another. All have similar characteristics. All have differences as well. Three years ago I went to the annual convention of the Musical Box Society International in Orlando, Florida. A field trip was made to see a fine collection of music boxes, coin operated pianos, and the like (by the way, the owner was a well-known numismatist). We all had a good time. Great camaraderie, enjoyment, talk about the hobby, and the like.

More recently, last November, I was keynote speaker at the Colonial Coin Collectors Club meeting in Boston, Massachusetts. A room filled with enthusiastic numismatists listened to what I had to say, and, in the same time frame of a couple days, enjoyed a convention and also participated in an auction (conducted by Chris Victor-McCawley and Bob Grellman). There was great camaraderie, lots of talk about colonial coins, and enthusiasm.

Except for the subject at hand, the music box enthusiasts and numismatists were almost identical. You could switch the participants in one convention with the other. And, I would have no doubt that if this were done, the collectors of colonial coins would appreciate the wonderful intricacies of music boxes and the like, and music box collectors would certainly enjoy learning about the historical, artistic, and other aspects of coins. Having intellectual curiosity is a prerequisite to enjoying the collecting of anything.

In conclusion of my message to Marty, I suggested that we all have a challenge to maintain enthusiasm for hobbies. The different groups, in music as well as coins, and also in other areas, have been declining in membership. Beyond hobbies, attendance at National Parks has dropped a lot (even before the current economic problems). Fraternal lodges and clubs in the United States, pubs in Great Britain, and also, are all giving way to the ease of finding amusement on the Internet or on computers, by staying at home, playing games, communicating with others, all the while sitting in a chair.

And yet, those who are active in collecting hobbies and who attend conventions, auctions, shows, and the like, continue to enjoy themselves a lot—just like the two conventions mentioned. They are a very nice addition to everyday life.

Perhaps we need to get some Internet people who have no collecting hobby to learn about music boxes or coins or both!