Jim Jelinek wrote about Prague, "As far as automatic music is
concerned you're in the wrong place."

That's not entirely right; sorry, Jim!  If you ask the average American
on the street of New York if he has seen a large machine that plays
metal discs, you will get a blank look.  But if you know where to look
there must be thousands for sale.

I put an advert in a free paper in the Czech Republic on one visit and
was contacted by a man who told me there were about 100 free papers for
the whole region and for a small fee he would translate the ad into
Czech and put it in every copy.  As a result, every month I got an
envelope from him with between 10 and 20 replies offering mechanical
music.  I used to buy mainly disc music boxes as Leipzig was near the
border and they were plentiful, but I also bought a Weber Unika in
Bratislava, and a Red Welte-Mignon upright in Brno which had come from
the USA with the Marshall Plan in the late 1940's.

I am certain that if anyone was to drive a car for a week or so round
the towns, one would very soon have a vehicle stuffed with goodies.
They are there to be bought if you want to find them.

Brian Chesters