Orchestrion
ALTERNATE NAME(S)
- Player piano and organ
Maker
J. P. Seeburg Company
Date1912 ca.
Place MadeChicago, Illinois, United States, North America
ModelStyle G
Serial No.17165
SignedBrass plate screwed to front center edge of shelf: MANUFACTURED BY / J. P. Seeburg Piano Co. / CHICAGOStenciled (decal) on nameboard: J. P. Seeburg / ELECTRIC / Upright Grand
MarkingsLocated on the back pinblock: 17165
DescriptionMaker: J. P. Seeburg Co. (orchestrion); piano made by the Seybold Company in 1912 (identity confirmed by Arthur Reblitz) The snare drum has a sticker inside bearing the date November 7, 1912, and the bass drum bears a similar sticker dated October 17, 1912. Both drums were made by the Harmony Co., Chicago, Illinois, and are original to the orchestrion.
Includes a piano, two ranks of organ pipes (flute & violin), bass drum, snare drum, tympani, cymbal, triangle
Features Torch Glass design leaded glass art windows on front of case
Two scenes appear in a circle on each side of the doors; left side includes a house, lake & trees; right side includes a windmill and houses
Coin slot mounted on right front side of right door
Operated with nickels
Cabinet of quartered oak veneer (refinished)
DimensionsHeight: 6’ 7.5”
Width: 5’ 10.5”
Depth: 2’ 4.5”
ProvenanceA collector named Steve Radjenovich owned the G from the late 1950s through the early 1980s. He wrote "S. Radjenovich, 3/10/58, Minneapolis, Minn.
Bought from Jackewitz, Bovey Palm Garden" under the keybed. I've never found any information on anyone named Jackewitz or a Bovey Palm Garden. You'll find a horizontal saw cut in each side, just above the top of the piano plate and pinblock (below the drum shelf), concealed with wooden molding. Steve told me he cut the sides so it would fit into his basement. He then put it out "on location" in a pizza parlor in the Minneapolis area, where he connected it to a band of animated monkeys. It had a dime coin slot, and it was a very popular attraction while there. Steve passed away many years ago.
Published ReferencesAndré Larson, “Early 20th-Century Technology . . . ‘Nobody Can Listen to it Without Smiling!’,” America's Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter 24, No. 2 (January 1997), pp. 1-2.
Credit LineGift of Douglas and Phyllis Adam, 1996
Object number06022
On View
Not on view
1714-1727 ca.
