Hi All,  Joyce Brite expressed some concern over the fact that
a music box disk was used as an ornament.  All I can say is ...
"That's Holloywood!"

Having been in thousands of homes I can attest to the fact that
Hollywood is not the only place where parts of mechanical musical
instruments are used as ornaments.  But I think the cutest one I ever
saw was a spinal column made out of used hammer heads.  They were glued
together sort of like this: YAYAYA (I hope you get the picture).

What was even more interesting was the 'way' it was glued together.
It was super-glued felt-to-felt and when removed from the wall,
it could be wiggled side-to-side (I hope you're getting this mental
image).  It almost looked like a real spine.  Oh, by the way, it was
in the home of a chiropractor.  :-)

The very next time I removed a set of hammers that were actually still
pretty decent, I made one.  They're cute!

But back to Joyce's concern.

A few months back, I was in the home of an elderly retired couple
when I thought I spied what looked like a console-type roller organ.
Sitting on top of the 'table' was a rather large potted plant which,
upon inspection, had been over-watered more than once and the excess
water had spilled over the sides and onto the top of the machine.

It was a very sad picture.  The top was bowing up and the veneer was
separating from the base wood.  Removing the potted plant and opening
this little jewel up, I found, to my horror, that the water had dripped
inside and the metal parts inside were rusting.

Wanting to rescue the piece, I offered to buy it for what I considered
a more than fair price.  The elderly gentleman liked the idea, and
considering their fixed-income situation, saw it as found money.  But
since it belonged to his wife, she had the final say.  Her viewpoint
was entirely different.  She said, and I quote, "OH NO!, I need it for
my PLANT!!!"

And what's sadder yet, the dozen or so rolls were thrown into a
cardboard box, unprotected and when I removed one for inspection, it
started falling apart in my hands.

Moral: One man's treasure is another man's (woman's) trash!

And I feel certain that Hollywood has trashed _millions of dollars_
worth of salvageable, if not totally rebuildable instruments.  So don't
be sad Joyce, it happens all the time in even the most unlikely of
places.

Musically,

John A. Tuttle

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 |_____|____"We Keep The Music Rolling"____|_____|

 [ The 'Kilroy' above reminds me of Andy Taylor and the rolling
 [ pins which support his combine belt.  Keep 'em Rolling !!
 [ -- Robbie