Bankrupt stock---Dominion Gramophone Records Ltd.

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emgcr
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Bankrupt stock---Dominion Gramophone Records Ltd.

Post by emgcr »

Here is an advertisement showing the machinery operated by Dominion Gramophone Records Ltd which could be bought in December 1930 presumably after the firm had become insolvent. The company was only in business for less than two years from October 1928 to mid 1930. It is fascinating to see the large capital investment necessary and some of the details of what it took to produce shellac records. Somebody must have lost a great deal of money in a very short space of time. Another casualty precipitated by the Wall Street crash ?

It would be interesting to know the auction results and who bought what.
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Re: Bankrupt stock---Dominion Gramophone Records Ltd.

Post by epigramophone »

Much of the stock, including matrices, was bought by Crystalate who reissued some of the titles on their Imperial label.

Like many record companies, Dominion made extravagant claims about the quality of their recordings and the silence of their surfaces.
Neither claim is consistent with the few Dominion records in my collection, which now sit unplayed on my "Less Common Labels" shelf.
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Re: Bankrupt stock---Dominion Gramophone Records Ltd.

Post by emgcr »

How interesting Roger and many thanks. This appears to have been a significant undertaking. Do we know the names of the people behind the label ?

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Re: Bankrupt stock---Dominion Gramophone Records Ltd.

Post by kirtley2012 »

60 record presses!, shame none survived (that we know of)

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Re: Bankrupt stock---Dominion Gramophone Records Ltd.

Post by epigramophone »

emgcr wrote:How interesting Roger and many thanks. This appears to have been a significant undertaking. Do we know the names of the people behind the label ?
A history and discography of Dominion Records by the late Arthur Badrock was published by the CLPGS. Their on line book shop www.clpgs.org.uk still lists it.

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Re: Bankrupt stock---Dominion Gramophone Records Ltd.

Post by emgcr »

Many thanks---have just ordered a copy.

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Re: Bankrupt stock---Dominion Gramophone Records Ltd.

Post by travisgreyfox »

epigramophone wrote:Much of the stock, including matrices, was bought by Crystalate who reissued some of the titles on their Imperial label.

Like many record companies, Dominion made extravagant claims about the quality of their recordings and the silence of their surfaces.
Neither claim is consistent with the few Dominion records in my collection, which now sit unplayed on my "Less Common Labels" shelf.

I just bought a stack of Dominion records that are in great shape and they sound very nice. About the same as a mint condition batwing victor record.

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Re: Bankrupt stock---Dominion Gramophone Records Ltd.

Post by Phototone »

I think those 60 record presses could have a more modest meaning. If you have ever viewed film of the workings of a record pressing plant in the 1920's, you will see that the stampers are held in heavy removable assembly's that are inserted into a hydraulic press, pressed, then removed to a table where they are opened and the pressed shellac record is lifted out. I think the auction is referring to these removable assemblies which are inserted into the (far fewer) floor standing hydraulic presses. I could be wrong, but it sure seems odd that a small minor record company would have 60 complete hydraulic presses. The amount of steam required for that would be huge.

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Re: Bankrupt stock---Dominion Gramophone Records Ltd.

Post by poodling around »

emgcr wrote:How interesting Roger and many thanks. This appears to have been a significant undertaking. Do we know the names of the people behind the label ?
I know it's a bit late but I came across these links which go into quite a lot of detail about the Dominion Company:

https://archive.org/stream/HillandaleNe ... 9_djvu.txt

(Copied below_:

also, this PDF states:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q= ... uKZi8E8AMT

The Dominion Record Company came to Luton in 1929. Their attractive label proclaimed ‘ Dominion Records Encir cle The World’ and went on to state that they were made at ‘ Luton, Beds. , England’. The factory was situated on the corner of Dunstable Road and Chaul End Lane. Dominion had started business in London on 21st March 1928 with offices in Great Marlborough Street and a factory in the Old Kent Road. The lease on the factory cost £3,500 and was, for reasons unknown, sold for £325 when the production transferred to Luton. Why Luton was chosen can only be put down to the fact that the Chairman of the Board, Horace Brightman, lived in the town. At the start, all looked well for the company, their first advertisement making the extravagant claim “ Ev er y I ndust r y Pr oduces I t s Mast er pi ece –The Gramophone Industry Has Produced The Domi ni on Recor d” . Wi t h a Peer , a Member of Parliament, a prominent financier and the president of four American companies, the investors were well and truly hooked. Dominion were expecting to produce and distribute 5,000,000 records annually. The company claimed they would make an annual profit of £60,000, based on the selling price of one shilling and three pence a record. Sadly, things did not work to plan. Competition was strong from more established record companies, sales went down, and after a year of production the Annual General Meeting reported a loss of £29,000. Most of this loss was claimed to be the high cost of materials at the Luton factory. Shortly afterwards the Board Chairman, Horace Brightman, resigned. It was the beginning of the end; the company continued to go downhill. By 1930, the company was in a bad financial state, and in July of the year was taken to court by creditors, and Dominion was wound up. Despite the many problems faced by Dominion, they produced many interesting and entertaining records, while relying heavily on imported
Amer i can r ecor d ‘ mast er s’ . Consequently, there was a predominance of American Dance Bands such as Sam Lanin and his Troubadours, the Society Night-Club Orchestra, and the Dixie Daisies, to name a few. This type of record was very acceptable to the public at the time, when jazz and dance music was the vogue. The main British band that appeared on the Dominion label was that of Jay Wilbur who used American-sounding pseudonyms such as the Broadway Broadcasters and the Deauville Dance Band in competition. Much in evidence were the popular artistes of the day such as Tommy Handl ey ( bi l l ed as ‘ t he wi r el ess f av our i t e’ ) , t he si nger Cav an O’ Connor ( hi di ng under t he pseudony m of Pat r i ck O’ Moor e) and Charles Penrose, the Laughing Policeman. Looking through the catalogue we find early recordings by George Formby, the Savoy Hotel Orpheans, and surprisingly the Margate Municipal Orchestra. Dominion set up its own Light Opera Company to record selections of Gilbert and Sullivan and the musical shows of the time. Dominion was the first record company to bring out what is now known as “ Tal ki ng Books” . I n a special series of records, authors read pieces from t hei r own wor ks. For exampl e, ‘ Wi nni e t he Pooh’ was read by A.A.Milne, Hugh Walpole read from ‘ Wi nt er ’ s Moon’ and ‘ Rogues and Vagabonds’ was read by Compton McKenzie. For those who like statistics, Dominion produced a catalogue of 376 records (752 sides) in the short time the company operated. Nowadays, for collectors, they are quite rare, and some sides may not be in existence. The ‘ AE’ ser i es of 26 r ecor ds wer e pr oduced and only issued in Sweden and Denmark. Only one ‘ AE’ r ecor d has been f ound i n t hi s count r y t o dat e. After reading the above, it is now time to visit your attic and sift through your old records. If you are lucky, you could find a Dominion record that was made in Luton over 70 years ago.



I also have a Dominion 78 record container /album which I thought may be useful to show for permanent future reference on here.
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Re: Bankrupt stock---Dominion Gramophone Records Ltd.

Post by poodling around »

travisgreyfox wrote:
epigramophone wrote:Much of the stock, including matrices, was bought by Crystalate who reissued some of the titles on their Imperial label.

Like many record companies, Dominion made extravagant claims about the quality of their recordings and the silence of their surfaces.
Neither claim is consistent with the few Dominion records in my collection, which now sit unplayed on my "Less Common Labels" shelf.

I just bought a stack of Dominion records that are in great shape and they sound very nice. About the same as a mint condition batwing victor record.

That sounds really interesting.

It would be great if you could list them with a few photo's maybe ?

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