Stella musical mechanical box. Switzerland, 1897.

In the pre-revolutionary period, an important phenomenon in the cultural life of wealthy immigrants was the presence of curious things in the interior, musical instruments or self-playing instruments. They were ordered in the capital of the Russian Empire from a catalog or ordered from abroad. It didn't matter if the wait dragged on for six months or a year.

Belykh Anna Stanislavovna, head curator of the Grodekov Museum, tells us.