The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Gramtastic wrote:Thanks for the list - I have always wondered how many there were!
I can add EX12 Regimental March / EX15 Step Lightly by the London Fire Brigade band as per attached. Any ideas why this is an "EX" not a "C" (and the label is bigger) ?

To complicate matters more, I have C4 Carolina Moon on the other side of C7 Sailors Hornpipe ! So they must have mixed and matched the available songs...

I also have one I am struggling to read - it appears to be C17 Ta-Ra / C18 Hilarity

Many thanks! Amended list attached.

Eddie Shaw doesn't list an Imperial 3 ½" EX series so that's a mystery! Interesting regarding the mixed sided issues... My guess is that like some other comapnies, for a certain period of time they sometimes used a label size to suit the length of recording, i.e. position at which the groove finished. It's known that Crystalate had their own printing facility (which continued as a commercial entity after they closed) so this would have been easy for them.

Updated version attached with more photos, including an example of the mailing box and leaflets sent out to private individuals on request as part of Crystalate's own promotional activity. Thanks to soundgen for pointing out webpages with additional information.

If anyone has any more examples please let me know!

This 1 ½ inch record I surely the smallest playable record.

Thanks, Jake

Have you ever found a way to play it? If so, how many seconds does it play for?

bfinan11 wrote:Have you ever found a way to play it? If so, how many seconds does it play for?

http://www.emiarchivetrust.org/the-first-mini-disc/ The records do turn up occasionally but are usually expensive! I don't know whether any collectors have managed to find a way to play them - the Youtube video on the above webpage is actually of a Blue Amberol cylinder.

Here's a video showing the royal dolls' house as a whole - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7YjePpdXVQ

There are some on youtube if this hasn't been posted before

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOGVbV306XY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ3mR3hmlao

soundgen wrote:There are some on youtube if this hasn't been posted before

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOGVbV306XY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ3mR3hmlao

Thanks for those! I was actually referring to 12jslater's even smaller Queen's Doll House record though.

With some modifications of the pickup and thanks to my versatile Reloop RP-6000 turntable, I was able to play my 1 ½" record. For what it is, it does sound pretty good:

[youtubehd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTROczF3p68[/youtubehd]


Btw. the original set did not only include the record in it's sleeve, but also a miniature Times newspaper, which is rarely found still togheter.

WDC wrote:With some modifications of the pickup and thanks to my versatile Reloop RP-6000 turntable, I was able to play my 1 ½" record. For what it is, it does sound pretty good:

[youtubehd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTROczF3p68[/youtubehd]


Btw. the original set did not only include the record in it's sleeve, but also a miniature Times newspaper, which is rarely found still togheter.

I think you'll find the Times is even rarer than the record and I think you'll find they weren't sold together

Wow! Thanks for that... I had to wonder how, or if, it was even playable, considering that it must have been an enormous technical challenge to record acoustically.