[A barrel piano by Henri Basile of Brussels, fitted with a wooden cylinder pinned by noteur Dominique de Mascio, was described in 030422 MMDigest.]

I looked up the names Basile and De Mascio in the book

- S.Godfroid, Bouwers van automatofonen in Vlaanderen.  Proeve van catalogus
(In: Volksmuziekatelier, Jaarboek V, Provinciaal Trefcentrum Baljuwhuis)
[Builders of automatic musical instruments in Flanders; preliminary catalogue,
(In: Folk music workshop, Yearbook V, Provincial Meeting Centre "Baljuwhuis")],
Galmaarden, 1987, copyright by Stéphane Godfroid, published by Provinciaal Trefcentrum
"Baljuwhuis" Galmaarden [Provincial Meeting Centre "Baljuwhuis"], Galmaarden, Belgium

In 1925, Basile moved to the Rue de Brabant 116 in Brussels, so the barrel piano must date from before that time. In the same year, he took a patent on an electric drive for Italian and French barrel pianos.

Several members of the De Mascio family were active in the mechanical music business, but I couldn't find the name Dominique, nor the address 20 Rue des plantes. Seeing, however, that both Antoine and Ernest De Mascio were active in the business of automatic pianos (ca.1913-1926), and they both lived in the region of Brussels, I think it's possible that Dominique was perhaps a brother of them.

The advert of Henri Basile, pictured above, is taken from the book by Stephane Godfroid with permission from the author.

Hope this helps !

Best wishes,

Björn Isebaert
Zottegem, Belgium
23 Apr 2003 13:17:57 +0200