September 9 & 10, 2022 The Henri Krijnen Collection
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/9/2022
1934, UK: In the early 20th century custom design pipe organs were used to accompany silent movies, and later as feature entertainment during the era of "talkies". The Rudolph Wurlitzer company is legendary in this respect, but in the UK, The John Compton Organ Company supplied many of the fine instruments to cinemas throughout the British Isles. This particular organ, one of the finest of its size, was supplied in 1934 to the Astoria Cinema in Kingston, Hull, a brand new state of the art cinema at that time. Seating over 1500 people, the organ had to be powerful enough to fill the large auditorium with sound. It performed for many years until it fell into disrepair in the 1970's. In the early 80's, the Compton was removed from the Astoria and reinstalled in a theme park. When this venture failed in 1989, the York Museum of Mechanical Music was able to purchase it. Still in entirely original condition, the organ was purchased into the collection in 1999 when it was been completely rebuilt, and has been the centerpiece of this collection for years. Able to be played manually or via computer, This instrument is complete, from keyboard to compressor to operate, everything is here to redeploy a piece of music history into your venue. More can be found about this theater organ at (https://jorgan.info/base/bm/Consoles.html). CONSIDERATIONS: The organ has been completely restored. NOTE: The organ is sill installed in the museum in Oosterhout, Netherlands. The new owner will be responsible for removing the organ and shipment to the new location. Viewing is possible by appointment. Please contact Morphy Auctions via email at info@morphyauctions.com, or by phone at 877-968-8880 and we will facilitate your appointment.
Condition: (Restored).