The traditional large auction of mechanical music and automata
will take place in Chartres (1 hour from Paris, France) on Sunday,
December 8th, 2013.  Circa 250 lots are for sale, including over 200
items from the private collection of Philippe Rouillé, among them
more than 100 musical boxes, made from ca. 1800 to 1900, of cartel or
tabatière type, some signed by Bremond, Nicole Frères, François Nicole,
David Lecoultre, Ducommun-Girod, L'epée, Rizebitcheck, etc., plus
overture boxes, musical watches and watch movements, and watches and
boxes for the Chinese market.

The collection includes several very rare fusée movements, known as
"primitives", dating from the early nineteenth century, with teeth
made one-by-one, tuned by filing, and screwed to the unit on a tooth
carrier.  Also included is a mechanical organ of the 18th century of
24 keys, with tin pipes and a pinned wooden cylinder, contained in
a large carved cabinet of the same period, surmounted by a clock.

The expert for the Philippe Rouillé collection and the mechanical
music instruments is M. Denis Lambotte, tel.: 06 60 76 48 79, email:
denislambotte@yahoo.fr.geentroep [delete ".geentroep" to reply].

Videos of automata and music boxes are visible at

http://www.ivoire-france.com/fr/automates-musique-mecanique-vente-du-8-decembre-2013-,article-270.html 
http://www.ivoire-france.com/fr/videos-boites-a-musique-de-p-rouille,article-273.html 
http://www.interencheres.com/fr/meubles-objets-art/automates-musique-mecanique-dont-collection-philippe-rouille-ie_v11791.html 

At the front of the auction catalog published by Galerie de Chartres
is this special foreword to the sale, from the Association des Amis des
Instruments et de la Musique Mécanique (AAIMM) (translated by Robbie):

  A solitary and scholarly man with lots of friends, sportsman (skiing
  and sailing) and mechanical music instruments enthusiast, Philippe
  Rouillé had traveled the world and had at one time opened a shop at
  the Palais Royal.

  On his death, he wanted his collection to be sold at the Galerie de
  Chartres, with the expertise of Denis Lambotte, for the benefit of
  the Little Brothers of the Poor.

  We expected to find at his home five or six musical boxes and a few
  documents [but] Philippe Rouillé was secret and generous: it is over
  two hundred lots, all of very high quality, which are on sale today
  to the delight of collectors worldwide.

  An extract from the testament that Philippe Rouillé left on his death:

  "Adding to all these intellectual activities, for reasons that only
  a psychoanalyst could untangle on a couch, [was] the creation of
  a large collection of antique music boxes, which led me into the
  exciting underworld of antique dealers, watchmakers and collectors...
  I translated books...  I set up some Internet web pages about
  mechanical music...  I worked extensively for a nice association of
  collectors, the AAIMM...  A company of experts kindly accepted me
  into their ranks...  I participated in the specialized sales in
  Chartres..."

Robbie Rhodes - Editor
Mechanical Music Digest

 [ Press release of Philippe Rouillé's collection of musical boxes
 [ http://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/13/11/07/131107_082257_Communique%20de%20presse%20vente%20P.%20Rouille.pdf 
 [ -- Robbie