Can someone please help me identify this roller organ?

[kerm]

Hi Everyone, I'm new to the site. I ended up acquiring a bunch of old roller organs from my late grandfather and have been able to identify almost all of them. Any help identifying this one would be much appreciated. It has a german medallion nailed to the side, but nothing comes up when I look it up online.

Thanks,
Katie

[Curt A]

The medallion looks partially like: Kronprinz (Crown Prince)......Protector Try placing a plain piece of paper over the medallion and attach it with scotch tape. Then, hold a pencil horizontally and rub the lead over the medallion to accentuate the high parts and see if you get a better, more readable impression.
Hopefully someone will have a better idea...

Also, a picture of the entire machine from a distance might be helpful...

[emgcr]

I enquired of friends who are experts in this field and they respond as follows :


"That is a Melodeon barrel reed organ, made and patented by Wilhelm Spaethe of Gera in 1878. (German patent no. 2151, refers to the simple tune changing lever system. They occurred in several sizes ranging from 14 to 33 notes. We have a 27-key one. The extant Spaethe catalogues show it was available in 1901 and still were in 1913, so probably either side of those dates too, perhaps from 1878 or so. The 14-note one sold new for 10.6 Marks in 1901 and 66 Marks for the 28-note one in 1913.

The barrels are interchangeable, if you are careful! The factory list stated "Extra barrels delivered in a few days". I've never seen one with more than one barrel. Ours does not have the medallion, which might help date that particular one."

Hope this helps.

[52089]

I believe the medallion says (using abbreviations) Friedrich-Wilhelm Kronprinz d. Deutsch. Reichs Protector, which is to say "Crown Prince of the German Empire".

[Curt A]

This is probably the guy on the medallion: Frederick III - he had a full beard and mustache. He was still Crown Prince in 1878 and became the Prussian Emperor for three months from March 9, 1888 to his death on June 15, 1888. This aligns with the patent dates of the machine as stated in the previous post...

[kerm]

THANKYOU to everyone for helping me identify this. My parents are downsizing and moving to a smaller house and will probably not want to bring more than one roller organ with them. If anyone has interest in buying, let me know!

Thanks again