This fabulous musical box is not only beautiful to hear, but is exquisite to look at. This is a Regina Automatic Disc Changing musical box.
The case is oak and it has turned columns on each side of a fabulous curved art-glass door.
The removable winding handle and controls are on the right. There is a drawer below to store additional discs.
It was made by the Regina Co. in rahway, NJ around 1900. Regina operated from 1894 until 1919 when it went bankrupt, due to the steady rise in popularity of the gramophone and the steady decline in popularity of the musical box.
During its period of operation, Regina sold over 100,000 musical boxes, making it one of the 'big three' manufacturers of disc musical boxes that included Symphonion and Polyphon.
With the door open, you can see the bedplate and double combs. There are 76 teeth in each comb. The pressure bar extends the entire length of the bedplate.
There are 12 discs stored in the rack below the bedplate. The discs are 15-1/2" in diameter. A dial on the right side of the cabinet is turned to move the disc rack backward to select a disc.
When the start lever is moved, the selected disc is raised to playing position, the tune plays, then the disc is lowered back into the rack.
Often set up as a coin-operated machine, this can be considered an early form of 'juke-box'. The discs would be changed periodically just as records would be changed in juke-boxes of later years.
