Tim Kramer writes in 020919 MMDigest:

> I'm a little curious about something I've seen a few times on
> eBay.  Sometimes there will be a music box that has a rather small
> mechanism installed.  Since the glass door and dividers appear to
> be sized for it, it would seem that it's original, but why have such
> a large box when the mechanism is only 1/2 or even only 1/3 of the
> space provided?  Would such pieces be something to avoid?

Large boxes with small movements were typical of the last days of the
cylinder box, when disk boxes had taken over, and were an attempt to
dress up a small box to look (but not sound) big.  Such boxes are
rarely of good quality (there must be exceptions, so please forgive me)
and generally should be avoided.  I've seen these boxes priced as if
they contained full sized mechanisms.  Priced at a few hundred dollars,
such a box may not be bad for the money.

Especially bad are the small movements with a few poorly tuned bells,
which the Brits call "three-bell nasties".

Mike Knudsen