If a machine, such as a big Amberola, has been in the same family since new and
the serial number on the mechanism does not match the ID tag, I would suspect
that the mechanism was swapped out near the end of its useful life span. Lets
say a Amberola 1-B was sold new in 1913 and saw continued use until being
replaced by a radio in 1928. In 1923, the spring broke and it was cheaper to
replace the entire mechanism with one from a parts machine rather than install
a
new spring. It's only my best guess that this happened more often than
something being swapped out when new.
*
As a side note to my story... The Amberola was moved to the attic in 1928 and
sat there until Mike Stitt bought it in 1985 for $500. He kept all the 5000
series cylinders that were bought in the 1920s and sold me the machine for
$1500. Jerry Blais
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