TubeNet

There are two of these on eBay at the moment. Can someone tell me what this is, where it's from, and/or if it's "real"?

I would imagine that the valves control airflow to different tubes and/or combination of tubes and each plays on a specific overtone series, but I have never seen anything like this. I thought maybe it's a prop from "Seussical the Musical"

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Musical ... 6323&rt=nc" target="_blank

It's called a schalmei and they seem to be popular in the former East Germany.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gqwk0dgttk" target="_blank" target="_blank