In answer to John Tuttle's "H.M.C Web Roll" wooden box query in the
131127 MMD, inquiring specifically whether the box in question is a
music roll box, I strongly suspect it is not.

A search of the usual online sources for music-industry information
(Music Trade Review, Library of Congress' Chronicling America, etc.)
returns nothing at all that would indicate that it was a music roll box
or even something music related.

While I cannot state with absolute certainty that I am correct, here
is my theory as to what this is.  "H.M.C." is the Royal Commission on
Historical Manuscripts, founded in 1869 by Royal commission to "survey
and report on privately owned and privately held archival records of
general historical interest."  Generally referred to as the Historical
Manuscripts Commission, or HMC, this agency became the de facto
manuscript preservation agency in England until 2003, when it was
merged with the Public Record Office, the resulting entity becoming the
National Archives.

With all that in mind, "web roll" would be, I suspect, some type of
archival material, perhaps a roll of webbed material used to back
fragile documents, or something of that nature.  I think so, anyway.
I may be completely wrong, but in absence of any other verifiable
information, this seems the most plausible explanation.

Bryan Cather
Saint Louis, MO