Musical Box Repair and Restoration
We receive a lot of requests for advice on repair or restoration projects. Much irreparable damage can be caused to a musical box or other mechanical instrument by well-meaning but inexperienced amateurs, even with an engineering background, often rendering the piece unplayable and valueless. If you are tempted to embark on a repair project, please seek advice beforehand.
We can advise you as to what is safe to tackle and what is better left to the experts.
Where appropriate, we can put you in touch with someone who can mentor you through a project, or suggest a ‘professional’ better qualified to carry out the work on your behalf. No amount of information on the internet or in books can compete with personal experience or specialist training! Please don’t risk destroying for ever an historic item.
A new member describes his mentoring experience
My involvement in antiques started since I was in my teens and throughout the years one
member of my family kept involving me in various aspects of antique restoration and
trading. He has been a collector for as long as I can remember; therefore I must mention my
uncle as without him I would have never got in to musical boxes.
Since I moved to UK from Lithuania in 2004, I have bought a number of items for my uncle.
On one occasion he asked me to sell a cylinder box. We were not sure of the value, so I
emailed number of auctioneers. Estimates were not high enough to consider bringing the
box over to UK.
At the meeting I received a very warm welcome from the host and other members. As soon as I walked in, I was amazed to see such a large collection.