Bodnars To Sell Mechanical Music Box, Clocks And Street Organ Collection
Massive Estate Collection Will Be Held Nov. 18
November 13, 2026
The Rohe estate of mechanical music boxes, clocks, and street organs will be sold at Bodnar’s on Wednesday, Nov. 18.
The Rohe pole barn museum housed this lifetime collection of clocks, music boxes and street organs, expressing his love for all things mechanical and musical. This estate collection sale will be online only bidding via Joe Bodnar’s website, www.bodnarsauction.com. As always, with Bodnar, this estate will be sold with no reserves to the highest bidder and all lots start at $10. From the moment the crew at Bodnar’s started to pick up the material, it was all smiles. “The place was just so cool and amazing,” explained Joe Bodnar. “Everywhere you looked it was another, look at that moment, wow. There were wall to wall clocks ticking and telling time to wall to wall, street organs, nickelodeons and player pianos spanning over 100 years. The sounds from an old town salon echoed in the barn to a traveling trailer that went to shows and events showcasing three rare gems of street organs. The museum was also lit up with stain glass lamps all over.”
The Rohe collection will be offered in more than 530 lots with something for every collector and price point. There will be common disc players that will sell for $100 to $200, and there is the best-of-the-best Regina music boxes that could sell for $6,000 to $8,000. Several standout lots include a Regina upright music box with automatic changer, playing (12) 26-inch discs, serial number 30285, estimated at $6,000 to $9,000; a Mortier 65 key street organ book walber model marked “Antwerp, Belgium,” having cherub adornments on either side, playing drums, cymbals and organ pipes, estimated at $4,000 to $6,000; and a Link Nickelodeon in a fine oak cabinet with stained glass fronts and slag glass sconce style panels, estimated at $2,000 to $4,000.
One of Joe Bodnar’s favorites is the Wurlitzer style 146 military band organ. It is a pneumatic automatic musical instrument originally designed by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company to provide powerful, festive musical accompaniment for traditional vintage carousels, roller rinks, and amusement parks. The Wurlitzer style 146 is a legendary mechanical military band organ configured to simulate a live traveling orchestra. Engineered with high-volume pneumatics, it was designed specifically to project festive music over spinning carousels. The premium “Carouselle Special” variant that will be sold features an elaborately carved decorative facade. When equipped with the optional 16 glissando brass bell bars, it utilizes Wurlitzer style 150 perforated paper music rolls to actuate both pipework and physical percussion. It is estimated at $5,000 to $9,000.
Maureen Bodnar’s favorite item is a Mills Novelty Company Violano-Virtuoso, a machine widely celebrated as one of the greatest engineering triumphs in the history of mechanical music. It is a completely unique type of nickelodeon. Unlike its pneumatic contemporaries that relied on vacuum air pressure and bellows, the Violano-Virtuoso was the first to use pure electromechanical automation to play a real, acoustic violin accompanied by a 44-note piano and piano harp. It will be estimated at $8,000 to $12,000. There are another 50 units in his collection mostly all in working condition. Mr. Rohe, besides collecting, also did restoration and understood how these items worked. By visiting Bodnar’s website, you can see all of these machines in action on special links to videos.
Besides the amazing music boxes and organs there is a collection of 75-plus clocks. Several highlights include a 19th-century oil-on-canvas clock picture with musical frame depicting a church with a working clock on the church steeple, estimated at $2,000 to $4,000; a 19th-century heavily carved German clock with disc player music box, on a matching Eastlake Victorian pedestal, estimated at $2,000 to $4,000; and a 19th-century tall case clock with a roller organ music box with dancing musicians, estimated at $2,000 to $4,000.
Bodnar’s stands behind what they sell and offers in-house shipping on small items, and local UPS Store shipping options are available, as well as local pick-up in Monmouth Junction, N.J. Call for an in-person preview by appointment. The sale starts at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 18.
Joe Bodnar has a new podcast titled Bodnar’s Bids & Banter at www.bodnarsauction.com.
To learn more, call 732-951-2100.
The Rohe pole barn museum housed this lifetime collection of clocks, music boxes and street organs, expressing his love for all things mechanical and musical. This estate collection sale will be online only bidding via Joe Bodnar’s website, www.bodnarsauction.com. As always, with Bodnar, this estate will be sold with no reserves to the highest bidder and all lots start at $10. From the moment the crew at Bodnar’s started to pick up the material, it was all smiles. “The place was just so cool and amazing,” explained Joe Bodnar. “Everywhere you looked it was another, look at that moment, wow. There were wall to wall clocks ticking and telling time to wall to wall, street organs, nickelodeons and player pianos spanning over 100 years. The sounds from an old town salon echoed in the barn to a traveling trailer that went to shows and events showcasing three rare gems of street organs. The museum was also lit up with stain glass lamps all over.”
The Rohe collection will be offered in more than 530 lots with something for every collector and price point. There will be common disc players that will sell for $100 to $200, and there is the best-of-the-best Regina music boxes that could sell for $6,000 to $8,000. Several standout lots include a Regina upright music box with automatic changer, playing (12) 26-inch discs, serial number 30285, estimated at $6,000 to $9,000; a Mortier 65 key street organ book walber model marked “Antwerp, Belgium,” having cherub adornments on either side, playing drums, cymbals and organ pipes, estimated at $4,000 to $6,000; and a Link Nickelodeon in a fine oak cabinet with stained glass fronts and slag glass sconce style panels, estimated at $2,000 to $4,000.
One of Joe Bodnar’s favorites is the Wurlitzer style 146 military band organ. It is a pneumatic automatic musical instrument originally designed by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company to provide powerful, festive musical accompaniment for traditional vintage carousels, roller rinks, and amusement parks. The Wurlitzer style 146 is a legendary mechanical military band organ configured to simulate a live traveling orchestra. Engineered with high-volume pneumatics, it was designed specifically to project festive music over spinning carousels. The premium “Carouselle Special” variant that will be sold features an elaborately carved decorative facade. When equipped with the optional 16 glissando brass bell bars, it utilizes Wurlitzer style 150 perforated paper music rolls to actuate both pipework and physical percussion. It is estimated at $5,000 to $9,000.
Maureen Bodnar’s favorite item is a Mills Novelty Company Violano-Virtuoso, a machine widely celebrated as one of the greatest engineering triumphs in the history of mechanical music. It is a completely unique type of nickelodeon. Unlike its pneumatic contemporaries that relied on vacuum air pressure and bellows, the Violano-Virtuoso was the first to use pure electromechanical automation to play a real, acoustic violin accompanied by a 44-note piano and piano harp. It will be estimated at $8,000 to $12,000. There are another 50 units in his collection mostly all in working condition. Mr. Rohe, besides collecting, also did restoration and understood how these items worked. By visiting Bodnar’s website, you can see all of these machines in action on special links to videos.
Besides the amazing music boxes and organs there is a collection of 75-plus clocks. Several highlights include a 19th-century oil-on-canvas clock picture with musical frame depicting a church with a working clock on the church steeple, estimated at $2,000 to $4,000; a 19th-century heavily carved German clock with disc player music box, on a matching Eastlake Victorian pedestal, estimated at $2,000 to $4,000; and a 19th-century tall case clock with a roller organ music box with dancing musicians, estimated at $2,000 to $4,000.
Bodnar’s stands behind what they sell and offers in-house shipping on small items, and local UPS Store shipping options are available, as well as local pick-up in Monmouth Junction, N.J. Call for an in-person preview by appointment. The sale starts at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 18.
Joe Bodnar has a new podcast titled Bodnar’s Bids & Banter at www.bodnarsauction.com.
To learn more, call 732-951-2100.
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