A Small Music Box That Plays The Blue Danube and a Tune from La Traviata

When I think of music boxes, I instantly think of one like this that I had as a child. My grandmother was a prima ballerina in her prime and she had the same dream for me. Sadly, I'm sure, her granddaughter had weak ankles, and was never nick-named Grace, not even ironically.

One identical to this belonged to my grandmother. It was passed down to my mother and was sadly broken when my parents moved cross-country and in with us. This is a flickr site so I can't copy the picture. But it's broken pieces still sit in my house waiting for me to fix it. Which, in reality, will probably never happen. :(

Early music boxes were reportedly made by watchmakers and used clock parts and clockworks. The first popular ones were made by the Swiss because of the popularity of their watches.

Metal disks like this one were used to make the music back in the old days.

Now, the makers have switched to using cylinders like this one.

Some of my favorite music boxes are below.

The pretty butterfly one would be perfect for my mother.

This one is perfect for me.