I attended a museum exhibit today titled "Rick's Picks".
This is a one-of-a-kind guitar exhibit featuring instruments and memorabilia collected by Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick over the course of his career. Part of a time line display said Rick was in Europe in 1971 buying Mellotrons to ship back to his family's music store in Rockford Illinois.
Details here http://www.rickspickslive.com/
I posted two photographs in the photo album section of the mellotrongroup photos titled Ricks Picks submitted by William Beith. One picture is the time line reference, and the second is a close up of a Mellotron instrument badge showing number 226.
Thought the group might enjoy this.
Cheers
Bill