[ Paul inquired in MMD 980116:
 [
 [> Can you help?  Whether or not it is, my interest is in trying to
 [> identify and date a box which my wife inherited.  The book "Cylinder
 [> Musical Box Design and Repair" has given me hope that we have
 [> sufficient clues and I am trying to find out any sources which might
 [> help.  For example has anyone published checklists of serial numbers
 [> by maker?  If you can help at all I should be very grateful.

May I thank all those who sent me the address of the Musical Box Society
of GB and  helpful comments on identification.  In fact the Secretary,
Alan Wyatt lives only an hour away so my wife and I  spent a most
pleasant couple of hours with the Wyatts and have become very interested
in the subject.  We are no further forward in identifying our mandolin
box but it is nice to know that it is a quality box and worth minor
cleaning etc. to put it into A1 condition.

When a handsome Visible Bells/8 airs box came up at our local auction
this week we couldn't resist the temptation to buy it although it
clearly is in need of much attention.  So now I am trying to identify
two boxes.  Unfortunately the recommended restorer has umpteen boxes
in hand and we have a long wait for our turn.

Little did I know what I was getting into when I stumbled on this site!

Paul Embleton
Stansted, Essex, UK