-- non-subscriber, please reply to sender and MMD --

Dear sir,  I read the message of Matthew Caulfield about the 'Unknown
Swiss "ST" Musical Box' [050915 MMDigest].  The mark is not ST but S
and "a Christian cross".  It is the reduction writing of the Swiss city
of Sainte Croix in Canton de Vaud, the city where Paillard and Mermod
had their factories.

The monogram was specific to Mermod production.  He stamped it on all
his combs for cylinder music boxes and later on the discs of the Stella
and Mira disc boxes.

With my best regards,
JM Lebout
jmlebout@hotmail.com.geentroep [delete ".geentroep" to reply]

 [ A short history of Sainte-Croix is presented at the city's web site,
 [ http://www.sainte-croix.ch/service/comm-sainte-croix/body_comm-sainte-croix.html 
 [ The box on the left side explains:
 [
 [   "At the beginning of the 14th century the lords of Grandson built
 [ a castle to supervise this significant passage of the Jura, already
 [ known under the Roman empire.  Under its protection was born the
 [ Villette of the Sainte-Croix, and then the whole place was colonized
 [ and rapidly took on importance.  Its inhabitants received exemptions
 [ and were represented later in the States of Vaud.  The armorial
 [ bearings go back to the 17th century; they are reproduced on a
 [ stained glass of 1683 and on a seal of the same time."
 [
 [ The present-day armorial bearings (coat of arms) is described as
 [ "Against an azure field, a Latin gold cross on a mount of three
 [ green hills."  -- Robbie