Details
Image(s)
Title Disc Musical Box ‘Reginaphone’
CreatorRegina Music Box Company (manufacturer)
Year ca. 1912
Object number1107
Object categorymechanical instruments with playing comb, music boxes
Object namemusic box with disc
DescriptionThis disc-playing music box looks rather like a grammophone. In fact, it is (also)! The front of the cabinet is decorated with paintings of a richly dressed couple in period clothing sitting by a lake - one reading a book and the other holding a fan. The cabinet has a similar color to mahogany, but it is actually painted softwood varnished with cellulose lacquer. The Reginaphone could play both a comb via a perforated metal disc (using a reading mechanism below the disc), and a gramophone record (using a needle above the disc and a detachable wooden horn). Such instruments from the Regina factory in Rahway, New Jersey, could be repaired at the factory with a one-year warranty. However, according to the warranty document, this warranty would expire not only in case of misuse and accidents, but also if the instrument was used with a disc from a brand other than Regina.
Accompanying textsBecause metal records could be produced much faster than cylinders with pins, the amount of available repertoire was much greater than with earlier mechanical instruments. The records produced by Regina included popular hits and classical repertoire by E. Waldteufel, P. Lincke, A. Sullivan, J. Sousa, G. Rossini, R. Wagner, C.M. von Weber, G. Verdi, C. Gounod, G. Donizetti, J. Strauss, G. Faure, F. Mendelssohn, A. Dvořák, and many more!
This instrument embodies a transitional period when the gramophone record began to become commonplace, but before the mechanical instrument industry had practically collapsed due to the rising popularity of recorded music.
The Reginaphone was marketed as "A talking machine and music box combined / "Two instruments in one." However, this hybrid instrument did not prove to be a great success and the Regina Music Box Company went out of business in 1922.
This instrument embodies a transitional period when the gramophone record began to become commonplace, but before the mechanical instrument industry had practically collapsed due to the rising popularity of recorded music.
The Reginaphone was marketed as "A talking machine and music box combined / "Two instruments in one." However, this hybrid instrument did not prove to be a great success and the Regina Music Box Company went out of business in 1922.
Dimensions
geheel height: 156 cm
geheel width: 60 cm
geheel depth: 70 cm
plaat diameter: 40 cm
geheel width: 60 cm
geheel depth: 70 cm
plaat diameter: 40 cm