Manufacture date:Circa 1900

It is easy to see how the Gavioli 43 Band Organ “The Butterfly” got its name. The beautifully crafted façade has carvings of butterfly and swans. This small European band organ is believed to be a Gavioli but verified origination is unknown. It was one of the many organs of this size that were made, however, only one to two hundred still exist worldwide. Currently, it plays 43-keyless cardboard organ music and was is shown on p. 208 of A Pictorial History of the Carousel by the late Frederick Fried, a historian of band organs and the Coney Island amusement area. (Originally pub. By A.S. Barnes and Co., 1964; later reprinted by the now-defunct Vestal Press, Vestal NY.)