Antique German Singing Bird in a Cage Music Box Automaton by Karl Griesbaum 1930

Karl Griesbaum was born in 1872, in the family of Mathias Griesbaum, a clockmaker. At the age of 33, Griesbaum was running the workshop making micro-mechanics for such clocks. One day Mr. Rosenau, the owner of a trading firm in Frankfurt that specialized in jewelry and clocks, brought a Swiss snuffbox to Griesbaum to make a copy and adapt. For Griesbaum, this seemingly insignificant event became a turning point in his life and he started manufacturing music boxes and snuff boxes with singing birds and founded his firm named, Karl Griesbaum. At that time, the Griesbaum family produced boxes with singing birds of three different price categories. The most expensive boxes were made of polished metal, then came unpolished metal boxes, and finally plain brass boxes. He died in the year 1941.