The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Greetings. Monarch records have always struck me as pretty uncommon -- out of thousands and thousands of pre-war 78's I've picked up over the past several decades, I have maybe two dozen Monarchs -- but recently, in a lot, I came across two of a type I had never seen before: They say "Victor Monarch Record" on the label and have the dog on them. Just judging by the design I'm guessing they pre-date the regular Monarch records, but I'm not certain of this, and I've never been entirely clear what the exact year window is for Monarchs, anyway. (I just assume it must have been brief as I have come across so few of them.) Can anybody tell me any more about these Victor Monarch records, when they might have been made, how scarce they are, etc.? I would also be grateful for any information on the pressing dates and scarcity of regular Monarch records, too. Thanks!

If you want good information on Victor records, you need to buy the book named in this post:

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... or+sherman

Although that copy has sold, you should be able to find a copy easily enough.

I have a copy I'd put on "lend- lease" if the OP can't find one.

BTW, eighteen... I sent you a PM.

You suggested they were pre-war. The question which war?

Certainly pre-Russian/Japanese war but not quite pre-Boer war.☺ Anyway they are amongst the first commercial recordings.

They date from the 1900-02 period. Amazing to think that is nearly 120 years ago.

I find it interesting that for the first time in human history we can look back to generations past and actually see and hear them. I know we have probably mused about this before in this forum but I wonder if the day that these artists stepped before a crude sound recording mechanism that they would achieve a kind of immortality?