Vintage Black Forest Carved Music Box from Switzerland

  

This is a Music Box that has carvings on the top, sides, and front that are Black Forest relief carvings. The top has a floral carving of Edelweiss and what appear to be small Forget me nots. Our guess is that these are not real old, possibly 1940's-1960's.

Inside it has a mirror and is lined with blue silk which appears to be original. The padded bottom has a panel of French knot, tuck and tufted silk which has small buttons that appear to be brass. It plays the songs, "G'schichten aus dem Wienerwald" which is "Tales From the Vienna Woods, " and "Kunstlerleben Walzer, " which is Artist's Life Waltz. The songs play when the lid is open and they have a rich tone quality. The music mechanism is one produced by famous maker, Cuendet and it has 38 pins.

The Box itself appears to us to be carved from Linden Wood and is finished so the top edges are a darker color as the photos show. It measures 8 inches long, 4.75 inches wide.

It weighs one pound, nine ounces. Our best guess is that this was made to be a souvenir of a tour of Switzerland sometime after WWII. It is well made and we did not find others exactly like it although we did find ones with much simpler music mechanisms.

We thought it a nice gift for someone, possibly of Swiss ancestry, or possibly planning a trip to the beautiful Swiss mountains and villages. It would make a nice container for a couple of airline tickets to Geneva for you and someone special! Our pricing is a guess and we invite your inspection and offer.