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DeBence Antique Music World is a museum in Franklin, Pennsylvania whose collection contains more than 100 antique mechanical musical instruments, including music boxes, calliopes, player pianos, and automated brass bands that date from the mid-1800s to the 1940s; as well as a number of other antiques. Many of the collection's mechanical instruments are rare; a number are among only a few manufactured, and a few are among the last in existence. Although the collection’s value cannot be measured, an offer for $13 million was once rejected.

History

Dairy farmers Jake and Elizabeth DeBence began their collection in the late 1940s in Grove City, Pennsylvania. The DeBences became avid auction attendees after purchasing two Tiffany lamps for $1 for both The couple purchased the items at a time that many people were getting rid of them, and their collection continued to grow.

When the DeBences retired to Franklin, Pennsylvania in 1965, they housed the collection in their barn a few miles outside of town and opened it to public viewing as the DeBence Music Museum. After Jake's death in March 1992, Elizabeth put the collection up for sale, and a Japanese interest offered her $13 million. Feeling that her husband would have wanted the collection to remain intact and in the area, she turned them down.

Local residents formed a non-profit organization that raised $1 million in a little more than seven months to buy the collection. The effort included selling wooden music notes for placement in storefronts and local yards as a show of support for keeping the collection in Franklin. The museum is housed in the location of the former G.C. Murphy five and dime store on Liberty Street. DeBence Antique Music World opened for tours in 1994. In addition to the musical instruments, the collection includes a large number of antiques the DeBences collected, and it is displayed along with other items that have musical or local significance. The DeBences' collection of more than 40 Tiffany-style hanging lamps provide the museum’s lighting.

Collection

The Berry-Wood A.O.W. Orchestrion, a nickelodeon that features 10 instruments directed by a paper roll, as well as lights, is the last functioning one of its kind in existence. Jake DeBence was offered $350,000 for it. Pic. of Berry-WoodMedia:

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