Cuff Music Boxes

Cuff Music Boxes

Cuff music boxes were designed and developed by Ferdinand Otto of the F. G. Otto & Sons Co. of New Jersey circa 1894 and sold under the Capital brand name. They were called cuff music boxes because of the shape of their music cylinders which resembles a gentleman’s shirt cuff. The cylinders were designed and developed by Patrick Kennedy of Brooklyn , New York , a machinist and designer for the F. G. Otto Company.

The Capital cuff music box produces a very balanced and pleasant sound, more so than most traditional disc players. These rare machines were introduced in 1895 and were only manufactured for a very short period of time, making them extremely scarce. With sales underway in 1895, the Otto firm hired M. J. Paillard, the highly respected music box retailers of New York, to market their unique new box.

Capital cuff music boxes came in both mahogany and oak boxes, each with an original landscape print inside the cover, a trademark of the Otto Company. A typical Capital music box was sold with 23 cuff cylinders.