Mills Novelty Co. (Chicago, Illinois)

In 1904 inventor-genius Henry K. Sandell at the Mills Novelty Company began work on what became this instrument at decade's end. It its first iteration, publicized as early as 1906, the Automatic Virtuosa comprised a fine violin mounted horizontally in an oak cabinet and was played by four rotating celluloid discs. The original market was penny arcades and public places where Mills, the leading manufacturer of arcade and amusement devices, had many customers and was highly respected.

Not long afterward, the instrument took on a more serious aspect when an example was shipped to England, where it went on a grand tour, with a pianist accompanying on a nearby keyboard instrument. The combination was found to be ideal, and soon the instruments were provided with a built-in piano. This was of curious design with the strings arranged geometrically, the longest in the center. As the instrument was played automatically from a program on paper rolls, this configuration worked well and helped the strings stay in tune.

Originally a violin-only Automatic Virtuosa with a hand-made Polsen violin, the presently-offered instrument is housed in an ornate quartered oak cabinet with nickel-plated trim, greatly resembling the early slot machine cases in production by Mills at the turn of the century. Although this and other instruments were originally constructed as violin players only, the retrofitting with the addition of a piano made them more marketable. Indeed, this example reveals where the bottom of the case was extended and a rectangular-cased piano was added by the factory.

With the piano, it became known as the Commercial Model Violano-Virtuoso, popularly called the "Bow Front Model" by collectors today. This is the second oldest of 22 examples known to exist, bearing serial number 146. Since Mills began each serial number series with 100, this is only the 46th Violano-Virtuoso made by that company. It was acquired by Wolfgang Schweppe in 1999 after discovery in Tennessee, and it was fully restored by Haughawout Music Co. in 2000. It comes with a dozen rolls and a modern Mills Novelty Co. MIDI system which provides hundreds of musical selections, including modern tunes. 44x69x30 inches.