Melba Records

[CarlosV]

I bought recently five Melba records, all in excellent condition - as much as a 1904 Hanover pressing would allow. But the most interesting is that each disc was in its own sleeve, with a nice photo of Melba, and the title of the song, as well as its pitch. Quite an achievement in early marketing! And up to my British friends to tell me if the price of 21/- is reasonable or not .

[poodling around]

I bought recently five Melba records, all in excellent condition - as much as a 1904 Hanover pressing would allow. But the most interesting is that each disc was in its own sleeve, with a nice photo of Melba, and the title of the song, as well as its pitch. Quite an achievement in early marketing! And up to my British friends to tell me if the price of 21/- is reasonable or not .

I have some of these too - it is good to see there are others around.

I thought the price very high for the time and that they may have been sold to rich people at the various venues she performed at after her performance.

[shoshani]

According to a monetary conversion website run by the UK's National Archives, 21 shillings (really 1 pound 1 shilling, or a guinea) circa 1905 is the equivalent of £82.50 in 2017 money, which is apparently the last time its tables were updated. Just under $115.00 US at today's exchange rate.

[Wolfe]

Victor Talking Machine Co. in the U.S. pressed those Melba records from imported matrices and sold them for $ 5.00, along with Patti and Tamagno.

Inflation calculator I used has that at about $ 150.00 in todays money.

[epigramophone]

In 1904 a Guinea (21 shillings) was more than the average weekly wage of an agricultural labourer.

Melba was a shrewd and ruthless businesswoman and the price, one shilling more than Tamagno's records, was one of her conditions for agreeing to a recording contract. She also insisted that all her records should bear a specially coloured label (Violet) which would not be used on the records of any other artist.

On signing the contract she was paid an advance of £1,000 immediately and was to receive a royalty of five shillings on every copy sold. Despite their very high price, the entire first pressing was sold out within a few days.

[CarlosV]

In 1904 a Guinea (21 shillings) was more than the average weekly wage of an agricultural labourer.

Melba was a shrewd and ruthless businesswoman and the price, one shilling more than Tamagno's records, was one of her conditions for agreeing to a recording contract. She also insisted that all her records should bear a specially coloured label (Violet) which would not be used on the records of any other artist.

On signing the contract she was paid an advance of £1,000 immediately and was to receive a royalty of five shillings on every copy sold. Despite their very high price, the entire first pressing was sold out within a few days.

Interesting piece of information, as always, Roger. The power of marketing is really amazing! selling out at today's price of GBP 100 a piece is probably a unique case. At least I was lucky to find these a century later for less than a tenth of the original price. On the uniqueness of the label colour, I have a couple of Patti records, and from what I recall have about the same colour, but I did not put them side-by-side to compare. I will have to dig them in my collection, that as time goes by is looking more and more similar to Indiana Jones's warehouse.

[epigramophone]

Patti's records had pink labels and remained single sided for as long as they were catalogued.
In the G&T period Battistini chose orange and Tamagno green. Caruso had been on the red label from the beginning. In 1924 when HMV began issuing their celebrity records in double sided format, most of the colours disappeared and red became the norm.

[Marco Gilardetti]

What a finding, Carlos! I'm very happy for you! Those records look stunning!

[CarlosV]

What a finding, Carlos! I'm very happy for you! Those records look stunning!

Grazie, Marco, these strikes of luck are quite rare for me. When I buy record lots most of the time what I get is another copy of The Third Man Theme: not a bad record - and a great movie - but 20-plus copies is more than anyone except Anton Karas's mother would like to own. I also found last week an autographed Tito Schipa Victor buried in a 40-disc lot - he signed it in black ink, so it is not quite noticeable with the bordeaux background, but nevertheless interesting.

[Marco Gilardetti]

You named it!!! I just got rid of 5-6 copies of "The third man theme"... I wonder how it is possible that this record had been pressed in such a *huge* number of copies, and eventually sold by the billions. Nobody seems to remember that theme. Or are these just stock leftovers, who knows? Anyway, in any lot purchase, you can rest assured to find two or three of them.