The Sanfilippo Foundation features a private collection built by Jasper Sanfilippo and now operated by his son, Jeffery. The estate offers docent-guided tours for the public that can be booked and paid for on their website Since the museum, in Barrington Illinois is located in a private home, no unscheduled visits are allowed
The museum building itself is stunningly beautiful and the collections are amazing.
Besides the perfume collection that I have shown just a small portion of in previous posts, (more about the perfume collection to come) the Sanfilippo Estate has one of the world's largest collections of mechanical and automated musical instruments.
Theater Pipe Organs became popular to accompany Silent films in the early 20th century. https://www.sanfilippofoundation.org/pipe-organ.html
Weber Otero Orchestrion.
Some nformation provided on the plaque says the manufacturer was Gebrüder Weber, Waldkirch, Germany. Year built c. 1910, cost unknown. Instrumentation: 52-note piano, xylophone, tambourine, 28 violin and 28 harmonium flutes, bass drum, 10 snare drums, tympani, cymbal, triangle, castanets. Plays Weber "Otero" rolls.
"In the years between 1905-1910, animated scenes were very popular in some models of German orchestrions. This early Weber Otero features a train depicting the train station in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.. The side cabinets contain shelves for storing music rolls."
"The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo" was the music being played on this player piano with a gramophone on top. This high-end piano with stained glass and carved wood is from the early 20th century. These instruments were a marvel of their time. They were not only complex self-playing musical instruments, they were also had the craftsmanship of fine furniture.
This street organ was also known as a fairground organ or orchestrion.
Carl Frei (1884-1967) was a renowned organ builder and composer from Waldkirch, Germany, that was famous for its organ-building tradition. The mechanical figure moves in time with the music adding a visual spectacle to the musical performance.
These two large, impressive brass horns mounted on stands are phonograph horns or gramophone horns. In the early days of recorded music, before electronic amplification, these horns were essential in the early days of recorded music for projecting and amplifying the sound produced by the stylus. The larger the horn, the louder the sound could be. These were sold separately from the phonograph itself,
This musical instrument is a Violano-Virtuoso, a self-playing violin and piano combination.that operates using perforated paper rolls, similar to a player piano. It was invented by Henry K. Sandell and manufactured by the Mills Novelty Company of Chicago, Illinois, in the early 20th century. The Violano-Virtuoso is an entirely electrical instrument that operates using perforated paper rolls, similar to a player piano. The holes in the paper rolls activate a series of electromagnets. For the piano: The electromagnets trigger felt-covered hammers to strike the keys, playing the piano. It was primarily used as a coin-operated machine in public places like hotels, restaurants, and dance halls, but some models were also made for home use.
You can see a demonstration of this Violano-Virtuoso in action in this video. Sanfilippo Foundation - Mills Violano Virtuoso (violin playing machine)
There is an incredible amount of things to see at this museum! Including this antique mailbox
Hope you enjoyed the photo tour!
All photos are from my family albums. Information is from the musem. Sanfilippo Estate
