From what I've read, this is a matter of dispute. That shield is apparently the place where the artist's initials were traditionally posted. Thus my Noblet has "IN" for Jean Noblet, my Universal Marseille has "CB" for Claude Burdel. My photoreproductions of the Conver give the letters "VT." But Marteau's Grimaud changes that to "SM," which (to my bewilderment) Hadar kept in his deck. The Rodes Sanchez has LM, which I take to refer to Le Mat, their publishing company.
I was sure there was a thread about this somewhere, but I've searched several ways and can't find it. I don't recall there being a definitive answer in the thread, though. Perhaps I'm thinking of the scattered references in this
thread.
Mark Patrick Hederman's Tarot, Talisman or Taboo? has the delicately put passage: "The SM emblazoned on the front describes the opposites that need to be combined, a symbiosis of conflicting needs required to harness creatively the turbulent violence of instinctual nature. Domination is not the answer; nor is craven submission. Discipline comes from harmonious involvement in appropriate and spontaneous activity."
I find this terrifically amusing. I expect the use of the word "discipline" in the last sentence is deliberate. I'm not so sure, though about the earlier appearance of the word "harness." In any case, I'm pretty sure that Marteau's use of SM wasn't a reference to erotic role playing spilling over into daily life, and that Hederman is not working with the historical source of the letters here.
