These Chinese Mandarins These Chinese mandarins are prepared to strike pending the deposit of coins in this multiple cylinder music box dating from 1890-1895. (Photo Joe Orchulli II)

As I rang the doorbell of the 1852 sea captain's mansion at 18 High Street in Wiscasset, I didn't know what to expect.

After a brief moment, in a swirl of autumn leaves, I was greeted by a stately gentleman named Danilo Konvalinka.

Konvalinka, meaning "Lily of the Valley" when translated from Czechoslovakian, opened the door gracefully, welcoming me inside of the giant music box of his home in which he is the animated figure.

My steps onto the hardwood floor of the foyer triggered a mechanism turning back the hands of the clock as the door swung closed behind me to the melody of "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing," coming somewhere from a hidden music box. A bird in a golden cage on my left greeted me asking for a quarter to sing me a song, as an array of the most amazing music boxes I have ever laid eyes on, all beckoned for my attention simultaneously.

The Musical Wonder House Museum and Gift Shop, depending upon the time of year that you visit, takes you through a series of incredible rooms adorned in 19th Century décor, unveiling a treasure of musical boxes, phonographs, expression grand pianos, antique art, chandeliers and much more. One of the rooms, The Great Music Room as it is properly titled, contains over 5,500 compositions that could be played by cylinder and disc music boxes as well as expression-player grand pianos. Another room, via the elegant flying staircase from the front foyer, is filled with more of the beautiful music boxes and also displays the incredibly ornate bed and nightstand of former heir to the Austrian throne, archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, who were assassinated on June 28, 1914 triggering World War I.

The set was given to Danilo's grandfather, Ferdinand Lang, who was the favored composer to the last royalty of Austria, Franz Joseph.

It all began when Danilo, who was born in Yugoslavia in 1931, would sit with his father, a clockmaker in Austria, to watch and help him assemble and repair music boxes after World War II.

In 1957, Danilo moved to the states and opened his own music box shop in Washington, D.C., called "Old Salzburg" named after the Austrian town in which he grew up in. After outgrowing that location, Danilo opened a shop in a little town that he had frequented while on vacation -- Boothbay Harbor. He ran the business there from 1969 until the mid-eighties when he moved to his current location in Wiscasset, where he has been displaying, repairing and restoring the antique instruments for 42 years. According to Danilo, the latter part is the emphasis for him during the cold months.

"We do a lot of extensive repair work and restoration in the winter months. If someone has a music box that has broken teeth or broken pins in the cylinder, we can fix that." He also mentioned that the piece doesn't have to be an antique to be considered for repair work; that often times, a jewelry or powder box can have sentimental value to a person and can potentially be fixed. If you have a special request regarding a tune that you are trying to find, Danilo offers an extensive selection of compositions and if he doesn't have what you want, he can locate it for you. For instance, in his gift shop, he has six to seven hundred unique, smaller music boxes with just as many different tunes available. The Merry Music Box Shoppe in Freeport, also owned by Danilo, has a great variety of music boxes for sale in its gift shop, which is currently open as well. Gift certificates are available from either store.

Other locations where he has had shops in the past include Lexington, Massachusetts, Dallas and Galveston, Texas.

The Wiscasset museum, which is the only one of its kind in the world, boasts a collection of almost 5,000 pieces. It is said to be the best maintained and the most uniquely displayed and demonstrated collection of musical mechanical devices in existence.

The oldest piece on display is a French Bird organ or Serinette, dating from 1745. Another interesting piece is an Autophone cylinder record phonograph with a Ferris wheel holding 12 cylinders. Most of the pieces were manufactured between 1796 and 1910 in Switzerland (the birthplace of the music box) as well as France, Germany, Austria and the United States (Rahway, New Jersey) with the original pricing ranging from 75 cents to $3000.00.

Now, when you think of a music box, like me, you probably imagine a small rectangular jewelry box with a spring-mounted ballerina on the inside (at least, that's what my sisters had!).

This collection however offers a tremendous variety of designs, shapes and sizes including a musical candy dish, a clothes brush, snuff boxes, bird boxes and even a hot plate with a call bell to beckon the maid or butler to refill the teapot, which rests atop the piece. Of course, the melody that rises from this is "Tea for Two."

Some of the most fascinating pieces that I observed, though there are too many to choose a favorite, are some of the larger boxes. For instance, the Full Orchestral Musical Box made in 1870 by Du Commo Girod, has six interchangeable cylinders playing 12 classical melodies each, which are stored in the drawers of the cabinet that it sits upon. This piece took Danilo 15 years to restore.

Sounds are created not only by the rotating cylinders plucking the tuned steel combs that you see in many of the more common smaller devices, but some also include bells, drums, castanets, bellows and often times a combination of all five. Some of the larger units demonstrated by Danilo had such low frequencies that I could feel the vibration through the floor. The tonal quality of these instruments is incredible, and must be experienced first hand. If you are then interested in bringing home the wonderful sounds of the priceless instruments, a variety of CD recordings including Christmas selections from the music boxes, along with many other items, are available for purchase in the museum gift shop. Danilo is always looking to buy pieces in any condition as well. Aside from the amazing and diverse display of music boxes, there are also a great variety of phonographs from Thomas Edison, The Victor Company and much more. On one of them, Danilo played me an old, un-released Rudy Vallee Orchestra record signed by the artist himself.

The ambiance of the whole experience evokes a very warm and romantic feeling, transporting the visitor to an era gone by. Though a complete presentation of the whole Wiscasset facility is limited during the winter months, the cozy gift shop and a special back room behind it offer some amazing antique as well as contemporary pieces available for demonstration and purchase.

The Musical Wonder House and Merry Music Box Shoppe not only live up to their names, but will surpass even your wildest imaginings.

The Musical Wonder House is located at 18 High Street in Wiscasset Maine and is open daily "after" 11 am. For additional information, call 207-882-7163 or toll free at 800-336-3725. The Merry Music Box Shoppe is located at 123 Main Street in Freeport Maine and is open 10am-6pm M-F. Sat 10-5 and Sun 12-5 (June-Dec). Their phone number is 207-865-1500 or toll free at 877-825-1500

For more information, visit www.musicalwonderhouse.com