Heirlooms are all about memories, they’re a way to keep a little of a loved one who is gone in person but never in spirit. Many people cherish a special chair their grandpa favored, or a set of serveware that presented happy holiday meals.

Others, however, find that sharing a favorite song or instrumental piece with a grandparent or elderly aunt is a timeless way to bond across generations. That’s one reason why antique music boxes are the perfect family heirloom.

Music is Memorable

Studies have shown that even non-musicians have a remarkable ability to remember music and lyrics. So, as an article in Time magazine noted, we can remember music but forget everything else, like where we put our keys or when our spouse’s birthday occurs. This seems to be due to the emotional connection we have with music, the way a song makes us feel is wrapped up with how we remember the tune. Music boxes make wonderful family heirlooms because they can evoke the emotions associated with the tunes they play.

Children Spend Hours with Music Boxes

Kids are fascinated with music boxes. They’ll wind and rewind them, and watch the mechanics of them for hours. Whether it’s a musical jewelry box with a spinning ballerina, or a little matchbox-sized animated holiday music box that plays a wintry tune, kids can occupy themselves for hours watching and listening to a music box.

Music boxes that have visible cylinders, combs, and star wheels, where you can see the little comb plucked to make notes as the cylinder or disc rotates creating a source of endless interest to musically- and mechanically-minded children.

Music Boxes Are a Connection with the Past

The pace of technological change accelerates with the passage of time. The famous “Moore’s Law,” first posited by Intel co-founder, Gordon Moore in 1965, stated that the speed and power of computers (or the number of transistors on a microchip) would double every ten years. Then, as of 1975, every two years.

While Moore’s law is no longer literally true, the speed, power, and sheer intelligence of computers is still increasing exponentially, albeit more slowly than before.

Antique music boxes provide a link to the evolution of engineering in a past era. They represent an earlier iteration of technological improvement. Music boxes started out as enormous assemblages of bells and chimes, evolving to breadbox-sized versions, or larger versions housed in cabinet-sized furniture.

They shrink to dresser-top size or even handheld versions, fashioned with precision by Swiss watchmakers. Seeing how artisans of the past crafted metal cylinders, combs, and winding mechanisms to create a device that would play melodies with harmony fosters an appreciation of the history of engineering and mechanics, and their interaction with the arts.

Antique music boxes are the perfect family heirloom because they invite us to remember loved ones and ancestors. Music boxes connect us to the past in an intimate and meaningful way through the emotions music can evoke.

Solvang Antiques has antique music boxes for sale online. Start your own family tradition with an antique music box from our collection. Or search Grandma’s attic for the one she cherished when she was a young girl. Your family will thank you for the memories.