Passed
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Description
13" (33 cm.) h. with lid open,x 15"l. x 9 1/2" w. A grand piano with ornately engraved case of silver-plated brass with extremely fancy scrollwork contains a 30-note Thorens musical movement. The piano lid opens to reveal both the musical movement and a compartment for storing the extra tune discs of which there are 15 in fair to good condition. The inside of the hinged piano lid features an engraved mosque with minarets and the piano also has a hinged fallboard above the piano keyboard.Fred Zimbalist,Cleveland,Ohio,circa 1965 employing a Thorens disc musical movement by Melodies,S.A. of Switzerland. Zimbalist promoted the face that no two of his music boxes were alike. He commissioned his cases from artists in India who were left with no other instructions than to create a special article into which musical movements of given dimensions could be mounted. According to his literature,the pieces were "purely handmade,untouched by machines. The casting process is done in hand-prepared sand molds,turning on hand-driven lathes. The engraving is done with fine,chisel-like tools and wooden hammers. Finally,the art piece is polished with woolen puffs until the pieces glitter like gold."