Ludwig Hupfeld AG (Böhlitz-Ehrenberg, Germany)

The Hupfeld Super Pan is a Model III Pan Orchestra in a large, exceptionally fancy case similar in appearance to the Helios Style III/39. Its inner workings and musical capabilities are the most sophisticated ever created by Ludwig Hupfeld A.G. of Leipzig. In its advertising Hupfeld called it the Pan Orchestra, not orchestrion, suggesting that it was even more human-like in its music than were instruments in the popular Helios line.

Instrumentation includes a Rönisch reproducing piano with mandolin attachment; 338 pipes and reeds representing violin, flute, clarinet, oboe, lotus flute, cello and harmonium; and xylophone, bells and extensive drums and traps. The instruments are controlled by 21 automatic registers. There are three separate internal swell boxes for melody, countermelody and accompaniment, plus a main outer swell shutter. The 36-note melody and 60-note countermelody divisions have independent tremolo mechanisms. The player mechanism is the most sophisticated of any extant orchestrion style, with the ability to play several musical parts on many combinations of instruments at the same time, each with its own expression.

This example contains the original piano, pipes, harmoniums, drums and traps, roll changer, electrical controls and pneumatic mechanisms (stack, pump, expression devices, register box, etc.) from a Hupfeld Kino-Pan from the Alain Vian Collection in Paris, with additional parts rescued from a larger Pan whose cabinet was destroyed, and a large original Hupfeld center art glass window, all obtained by Hathaway & Bowers in Europe in the early 1970s. Under the supervision of Hathaway & Bowers, the cabinet was finely replicated down to the last detail using only the original varieties of wood and new old stock veneer from the only complete Super Pan in existence, being restored at the same time for the Q. David Bowers Collection. The initial restoration was commissioned by Dr. George and Suzie Coade for their collection. It later went to the Wilkinson Collection and then the Sanfilippo Collection in 1983.

Additional restoration work was done to the pneumatic components, and the rank of clarinet pipes was added by noted automatic musical instrument expert Arthur Reblitz and his staff in 1985. (The Reblitz team understands every detail of the intricate Pan Orchestra, having studied and restored three of the four known examples over a period of years.) It was acquired by the Milhous Collection in 1999 and has been maintained in excellent playing condition since then. The Pan plays highly-multiplexed 124-note Hupfeld Pan rolls; several dozen original rolls and a set of over 400 re-cuts ranging from popular tunes to classical music are included with this magnificent instrument!

There are only three other Hupfeld Pan Orchestras known to exist: a Model I, a Model III Super Pan and a Model IV Excelsior Pan. Each is a treasured part of a permanent collection, and each takes its place among the world's most valuable orchestrions. This is truly an exciting opportunity to acquire a "reproducing orchestrion" that was and remains a pinnacle of the orchestrion builders' art! 150x132x65 inches.