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I also love cylinder boxes that are unusual. I love the blue Amberol Concert cylinder with the faux leatherette boxes, but my favorite looking box are the 4 min. wax Edison Grand Opera cylinders in the maroon boxes. Rare as hell though!

Let me be the second to say WOW.......thanks for sharing your expertise Mike. I think a book or web posting of these cylinder box examples would be great if you get the time.

John....can you please confirm if the patent label is on the bottom of Concert #28285.

Thanks everybody, very interesting, Ken

This thread has just prompted me to check the bottoms of my Blue Amberol Concert boxes. Without exception the ones with "Edison" in gold have the patent sticker and the ones in white do not. This seems to support the theory that the white ones are later and more cheaply made.

What can anyone tell me about the lid pictured below? It is in poor condition, the title has been over labelled and the box it sits on is not the original, but I have never seen another :

Here are a few pictures of my Edison Blue Amberol Concert Cylinder #28270 Home Sweet Home in the blue box with white lettering.

Rich Gordon

Let me know when the book is out! Would love such a thing!

Great info........I think the white core beveled Concerts are just fine in quality.....nevertheless, I suspect the white font boxes are from a jobber or are some of the creative things done with inventory after Edison closed its doors. In my opinion, that font would have never been issued by Edison.

Best, k

Well based on Rich's pics......I could very well be incorrect. Thanks Rich!

I have found two different types of the box that Rich showed in his picture--one is a little lighter blue, and one is a little darker. I have a number of both, and the lighter colored box always has the label on the bottom, and the darker one always does not. It is DEFINITELY an Edison box. There are just TOO many out there to be something like a, say, Clarence Ferguson, last Edison dealer, aftermarket box.

About the lid shared by epigramophone. I recently saw a lid like this somewhere--but just can't recall if it was on Ebay or what. It is basically a dealer made lid--I believe! It is really neat, however!

Mike

Polyphone wrote:Great talking points and thank you for the input.

I will concur if the Edison "standard patent language" info pasted on the bottom of the box. If not, it may have been done by a jobber or???? That font and character spacing is nothing I have ever seen before...........hope we can get to learning the facts about these boxes.

TMF folks, can get some pics of the bottom of the white font Concert box's posted?

Best, Ken

Sorry, I've been offline a bit! Here is the bottom of the box. It is an authentic box, and is the latest one made for this series.

Here are a few more pictures of the Edison Concert box like those posted by Ken and Mike. This is #28280 Three Fishers by Arthur Middleton.

Rich Gordon