I have a question maybe someone out there can answer for me.  Why,
when someone today manufactures a mechanical music item -- automata,
music box, nickelodeon, European orchestrion, etc. -- do they call it
by the original company's name and model number?

It would seem to me that it should be named after the current maker,
like Dave Ramey who produces the very nice "Ramey BanjoOrchestra",
not the "Encore BanjoOrchestra".

However, many things made today are called after the original and
I feel it misleads the uninformed and does a great disservice to the
collector and manufacturer of the originals.  The worst part of these
fabrications is that it wastes many talented restorers time in
building, rebuilding, and fixing them.

I assume (maybe incorrectly) that most good restorers have a backlog
of work to do.  So why are we spending valuable time fixing creations,
when we could be _restoring_ or saving from rotting original machines.

Is this what collecting mechanical music is about?

Mark Yaffe

 [ Do collectors call a replica by the original name to mislead
 [ other collectors, or is it just vanity?  What factors can
 [ make a replica more valuable than an original?  Consider
 [ (1) a music disc or roll, (2) a music box, (3) a nickelodeon,
 [ (4) a big European orchestrion.  -- Robbie