North Coast Imports, Inc.

I was on the plane yesterday, and had an interesting conversation with the man next to me. He brought up the Kimball Electronics Group  which is a global electronics company which he represented at one time or another. KEG was once Kimball International , which was one of the largest manufacturers of home organs. He remembered a conversation he had with the CEO which described their transition from organs to a giant electronics firm. The CEO said that from the '50s through the '80s every newlywed bought an organ for their home. By the time the '80s came and went into the world of electronics, no younger person was interested in having one in their living room. They were no longer a status symbol. To be sure, I remember them as a kid. Those home organs were everywhere. We used to have a stand at the county fair, selling Grandfather clocks next to those heavy organs thumping out "Oh When the Saints Go Marching In..." in every beat from a rumba to a disco gro...

Dug North has a writeup on the Musical Mystery House in Wiscasset, Maine   It's an old video, but it features some whistling automata like the bird cage, bird box and whistling man that are available through North Coast Imports! Address for the Musical Mystery House: Musical Wonder House 16-18 High Street Wiscasset, ME 04578 Hours: Memorial Day Weekend through Halloween Monday through Saturday, from 10AM - 5PM and Sunday Noon - 5 PM Web site: http://www.musicalwonderhouse.com/

Here's a great video from the VdS (Black Forest Clock Association) These are advance techniques for adjusting and fine-tuning your music box mechanism. Please be sure to pay careful attention to the video when making any adjustments, and remember that ALL of these adjustments should be VERY VERY small. All wire-bending and tweaking should be done a hair's width at a time. Be careful not to force anything or to bend anything too far.

The Badisches Landmuseum at Karlsruhe has an excellent website where you can listen to some exceptionally rare and fascinating mechanical musical instruments and musical clocks. Here you can listen to a Musical cabinet by the Veith-Langenbucher company, Augsburg, circa 1620... or an Elephant Clock, c. 1760, Clock case: Antoine Foullet, Mechanism: Tibeauville-Lamy... or an Apollo Clock, c. 1780... or a Chest with Flute Mechanism, c. 1804, Davrainville workshop, Paris. The website has this to say about the Musical Chest: After Napoleon was crowned Emperor he is said to have commissioned this model and given it to the Duchess of Bordeaux. The metal pin roller, also known asa cob, has eight melodies by Joseph Haydn which he specifically composed for this mechanical instrument. I wish there were better pictures available to post, but the sound files are definitely worth checking out!

Here's a great organ clock at one of our favorite museums in Triberg - the Heimatmuseum. There is even a zither player!

We just finished the muscial restoration on this rare Black Forest Clock. This piece was made by Emilian Wehrle in Furtwangen C. 1880. To find a musical shelf clock by Emilian Wehrle of this size and quality is nearly impossible. This example is an 8-day, three-train (Time, Strike, and Music) timepiece. This is the largest movement that Emilian Wehrle made. The music train is a two-tune, 9-pipe example.... on the hour the clock stikes the hour on a large gong... followed by a tune on the wood pipes. The case is fantastic, and one of Wehrle's best... lots of live, full-relief animals... the two deer flank the trumpeter doors. When the music is playing, the large doors open and two 4" flute players step forward. To see more rare Antique Black Forest Clocks you can check out our online museum at http://www.blackforestclocks.org/ Contact me if you have one like it! Justin J. Miller

Over the past weekend I acquired a collection of 24 rare and antique Black Forest Clocks. The clocks have been in storage for over a decade. I was thrilled to be able to locate so many choice pieces and add them to our collection in a single transaction. This collection includes many high-quality 8-day shelf cuckoos, several by Johann Baptist Beha. A 5" C.1880 Hunter cuckoo with huge 8" 5 tune music box. Early cast brass pinned plate movement. A Black Forest Trumpeter A unique Black Forest Muscial piece A GHS Apostle Clock A GHS Monk Automaton Many of these clocks are documented in the book Black Forest Clocks by Rick Ortenburger. (see sidebar for a link) Please stay tuned for detailed posts of these Antique Black Forest Pieces! And check our private museum. Best, Justin J. Miller www.blackforestclocks.org

For reasons that will soon become clear to you, we at North Coast Imports, are especially fond of a new sub-genre the kids are all talking about - called Steampunk I thought I would write up a short blog post about this great thing, but keep in mind that this post only scratches the surface. There are authors, costumers, artists, film directors, hobbiests , tinkerers , and inventors all adding to and building on Steampunkery at an alarming rate. You can read about Steampunk on Wikipedia , of course, but there are also blogs ... and ... web forums aplenty. "What does a Steampunk do?" You may ask. A Steampunk might collect recordings of turn-of-the-century steam engines. Someone enamored with the Steampunk aesthetic might also turn their humdrum computer into a work of art that looks like it came from Jules Verne's imagination... ...or, a Steampunk might dress the part... The idea might be summed up as a longing for re-injecting style and beauty into our otherwise c...

This muscial clock is one of the rarest in my collection. First I will describe the clock and its functions, then speak of its history. This special order Musical Flute Clock was made by Emilian Wehrle during the last quarter of the 19th C. The architectural case is a style # 28 in the 1898 Em. Wehrle and Co. Catalog. This case was available in both Oak or Walnut. This example was made in Walnut. The dial is silvered with a brass high polish locking bezel with glass. The hands on this piece are fantastic silvered hands with cherubs spreading their wings. These hands are the identical hands Wehrle also used on the #33 “Scheffel-Uhr”… Wehrle most elaborate and expensive clock. The Clock movement is a large robust brass movement that will run for 8 days on a single winding. The musical function of the clock is a two tune 8 pipe organ. As the organ plays the large double doors open...and a flute player steps forward. After the Organ is finished playing..the dors close, and large 6 tune mu...

This next clock in the collection is a Emilian Wehrle Rooster clock. Also known as a "Hahnen-Uhr". The Wehrle Rooster awakes on the hour, or on demand...with three loud distinct calls. Cock-A-Doodle-Doo!!! While Emilian Wehrle was not the inventor of the Rooster clock... he was the first to perfect it. He invented an apparatus that mimics the call of the Rooster without the use of air or horns. Instead Wehrle used a serrated wheel that rides a small metal reed... This friction at variable pressures and speeds creates a correct Rooster call. Emilian Wehrle was issued a patent in 1884 for his design (Apparat Fur Schallerzeugung #32141). Production started shortly after this date. Because of their high cost, and the loud and obnoxious call of the Rooster every hour they were never a success. By Emilian Wehrles death in 1896 very few were made, and even fewer have survived. The Rooster clock is one of the Rarest clocks ever produced by Wehrle...and are almost impossible to fin...