I just spoke to Nisan Cohen, owner of the Nisco Museum of
Mechanical Music in Ein Hod, Israel (just south of Haifa).  He
said that everything in the museum has suffered at least some fire
damage from the large Carmel forest fire.  He had only a superficial
look today and didn't try to play anything, but he fears that most,
if not all, has been lost in this tragedy.  He can be reached at
woundup_2000@yahoo.com.geentroep [delete ".geentroep" to reply] but
don't expect a quick reply due to the gravity of the situation.

It has been my wife's and my joy to visit the museum several times
and to even take people there.  It is the only such museum in Israel
and it has received visitors from around the world and many school
classes from throughout Israel, who later brought their parents and
grandparents to see the many mechanical marvels.

Vincent Morgan
New York City

 [ This is sad news, especially since the museum survived rocket
 [ attacks only to succomb to a raging forest fire.  More about
 [ Nisan Cohen and his mechanical music museum in the MMD articles
 [ indexed at http://www.mmdigest.com/archives/KWIC/I/israel.html 
 [ -- Editor (Robbie)