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Re: Columbia's switch from Flag to Viva-Tonal type label

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 10:49 am
by edisonplayer
The highest number Flag label that I have is 376-D,"Flag That Train",played by Lanin's Red Heads.edisonplayer

Re: Columbia's switch from Flag to Viva-Tonal type label

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2015 1:00 pm
by Rastus10
I posted this question on one of the 78 rpm groups on Facebook, and no one replied. Of course, they're more interested in simply showing pictures or complaining about broken records received in the mail.

That nonsense aside, the highest-numbered flag label that I have is 377-D, both sides by Chester Gaylord and recorded in mid-April 1925.

I've never seen 378-D, but since it contained acoustic masters from no later than early April, one could speculate that it is a flag label, as well. 379-D and 380-D have masters from mid-May 1925, so I have the feeling that they were too late for the flag label.

Re: Columbia's switch from Flag to Viva-Tonal type label

Posted: Wed May 23, 2018 10:34 am
by edisonplayer
379-D was "Sweet Georgia Brown",sung by Ethel Waters.I've never seen that as a Flag.I read that the English branch of Columbia felt that the Flag Label was either too expensive to print or too flamboyant.edisonplayer

Re: Columbia's switch from Flag to Viva-Tonal type label

Posted: Wed May 23, 2018 5:47 pm
by bfinan11
Did the very highest numbered A-series records ever make it onto a flag label? I would imagine some of them stayed in the catalog through at least the fall of 1923, so I would have expected to see a similar overlap as between Victor's Grand Prize and Batwing, or Batwing and Orthophonic labels, yet I've never actually noticed one in all the 78s I've seen...

Re: Columbia's switch from Flag to Viva-Tonal type label

Posted: Wed May 23, 2018 8:09 pm
by gramophone-georg
bfinan11 wrote:Did the very highest numbered A-series records ever make it onto a flag label? I would imagine some of them stayed in the catalog through at least the fall of 1923, so I would have expected to see a similar overlap as between Victor's Grand Prize and Batwing, or Batwing and Orthophonic labels, yet I've never actually noticed one in all the 78s I've seen...
Yes, the Flag label started during the tail end of the A series era.

Re: Columbia's switch from Flag to Viva-Tonal type label

Posted: Wed May 23, 2018 10:36 pm
by Rastus10
Ohh, the irony! Recently ended (May 2nd) on eBay...Columbia 378-D, and a Flag Label!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/HAPPINESS-BOYS ... 7675.l2557

I hope that it's alright to post the link, since it's germane to this discussion.

Re: Columbia's switch from Flag to Viva-Tonal type label

Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2018 8:04 pm
by bfinan11
gramophone-georg wrote: Yes, the Flag label started during the tail end of the A series era.
I ended up answering my own question in the latest box of shellac. I'd never seen an A-series flag before, but sure enough, found A3969 on the flag label today...