When I was a little girl, I did not have a musical jewelry box, and I was happy about that. Almost all musical jewelry boxes for girls are ballerina musical jewelry boxes, and pink. It was better to wait until I was older, and there were more possibilities for both the box and the music it played. Now, however, the hunt is on. I have a couple of music boxes, as in items that make music, but none have any capacity to store favorite pieces of jewelry. I need a musical jewelry box.

There are the leatherette jewelry boxes with telescoping side trays, and there are bound to be some with the built in music mechanism. What song would be appropriate for such a box? “You Are My Sunshine”? can’t say. Maybe a wooden jewelry box with a nice waltz and space for only my daily jewelry, so I could hear the tune in the morning and at the end of the work day. That would be nice.

Strangely enough, I bought my father a special music box for his dresser. It plays his alma mater’s hymn, and I was most surprised when I found it on the list of tunes available. I had to special order it, but to get my dad something unusual and that he liked was worth it. At least for once he got something of value to him. Not just another tie or set of handkerchiefs. So look at the list of tunes available when you get a music box catalog, and see if there isn’t a special tune in the list that strikes a chord.

My dad’s box was made of a couple of types of wood, and was good looking in a masculine way. The musical jewelry boxes for women can be just as fine, if you special order. The mass-produced jewelry box is usually fairly poorly designed and put together. If you are going to have only one, as I am, best to wait for a god jewelry box. I may be given one or two before I find the one I want, and I will keep and use them, but I want the musical jewelry box I buy (or get my spouse to buy) to be good quality.

Just for the record, if you want to buy someone young a jewelry box that plays music, look for one in the gift aisle at your local department store, especially at Christmas. There will be three or four options, an one may be just right for the intended owner. Jewelry boxes for youngsters are prone to destruction or loss during the teenage years, so do not fret over the box unnecessarily. You can get her a better one later, one she will use for years and remember you every time she opens it.

Jewelry music boxes have a long history. Once the music mechanism could be reduced to a small size, partly by limiting it to one song and only part of that, a larger box with a compartment in which the music mechanism could be mounted became the first music jewelry box. And there have been new versions probably every year since then. Phonographs killed the larger music machines of the Nineteenth Century, but the jewelry box has kept the mechanical music apparatus in the hands of regular people in spite of the changes in how other music is played.

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