U.S. Virgin Islands Keychain Music Box Plays “Swan Lake”

ATLANTIC SOUTH. 
Metal Music Box, c. 1980s. 

(Play video to listen to "Swan Lake." Make sure to turn audio on.) 

A beautiful souvenir piece from a United States Caribbean territory, this keychain music box is made from gold tone metal and has a cloisonné image of a bayside community. So many towns in the USVI are on a coastline that this illustration is likely meant to be representative of all such places on the four main islands or the smaller islands and cays. The U.S. Virgin Islands main islands include St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix, and Water Island. The azure blue bays located on any of these are popular destinations, and depictions of them are ubiquitous on items for the tourist souvenir market. But we think this pillbox-sized treasure is an especially nice memento. The red flowers are hibiscus, a local flora whose meaning is “delicate beauty”, and truly the environment of the entire Caribbean region could be similarly described. The balance of life here is tenuous, with the smallest change in temperatures or sea levels able to trigger devastating effects on the ecosystem. “Swan Lake” then, is actually an apt tune for the music box to play. Although Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky lived far from any island paradise, he found inspiration for what he wrote in fairy stories about fictional kingdoms, and in particular an area with enchanted grounds and water features. The dance style of ballet was an ideal way to express the delicate beauty of Tchaikovsky’s subject, a princess who had been turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer. And this wasn’t even the worst part of Odette’s tragic story. A deceptive change fooled her beloved into making a commitment to another, and led to an ending that had ballet audiences rising from their seats to revolt. Tchaikovsky, unwilling to revise his tragic conclusion to full happily-ever-after, modified things just enough to keep it from being totally bleak. Real paradises such as the U.S. Virgin Islands should take this made-up story as a cautionary tale. We ought to protect beautiful places, as well as the people living in them, from unwelcome changes to their form. We ought to look out for deception, and not be pressured into sugarcoating exactly how terrible it is to lose what matters most. A lot of meaning to pack into such a small item, yet that’s the magic of a music box. It is an entire world in a tiny presentation. [Condition: Used Very Good. Some age showing on the metal casing.] 

Condition: Used Very Good. 
Local / Regional Areas. 
Dimensions: 1.25” wide x 1.5” high x 0.5” deep / 1.4 oz