The History of Musical Jewelry Boxes

Music Mechanisms

• The first mechanical music makers were invented in 1502, but mechanical music -- the type played by musical jewelry boxes -- didn't really take off until the late 1800s. During that time, cylinder music boxes were very popular. These types of music boxes used larger versions of the same mechanism often found in musical jewelry boxes today. A cylinder covered with spaced bumps is attached to a mechanism that, when wound up, causes the cylinder to spin. As it spins, small metal combs of different lengths pluck the bumps on the cylinders, creating music.

The Inventor

• A Geneva watchmaker named Antoine Favre is credited with inventing the first music boxes using a spinning cylinder and combs. While many music boxes were quite large, he also made musical mechanisms small enough to fit within a watch. He made his first musical watches in 1796, but it wasn't until the later half of the 19th century that small musical items became very popular. In time, people could buy musical perfume bottles, musical necklaces and musical children's toys.

  Eventually, music was incorporated into jewelry boxes, too.

A Setback

• During World War I and the Great Depression, the music box industry in the United States faltered. After the Second World War, many soldiers brought home music boxes from Switzerland, which renewed the popularity of items that played mechanical music.

A Growing Industry

• In the mid-1950s a New York company began creating and selling musical jewelry boxes in the United States using its own box designs and musical components imported from Switzerland. Following the original, successful designs, it began making children's musical jewelry boxes. These contained the iconic ballerina that would rise and spin to the music when the lid was opened.