Curious Pathé Pressing

[drh]

This record turned up in a lot of Pathé discs I bought recently. I've never seen its like--a light tan or beige rather than black and a tiny typed label. Was it the equivalent of the white-label Victors, a special order record? Test pressing? Anybody here have any ideas? Never a dull moment in the Land of Pathé!

As one would expect for a paper label disc, it plays outside-in. The selections are the Toreador Song from Carmen on one side and, on the other, an abridgment of the "Largo al Factotum" (sung in French) from Rossini's Barber of Seville--it just stops dead right before the line about "Bravo, Figaro! Bravo, bravissimo!"--in other words, it leaves out the fireworks. Have I mentioned, never a dull moment in the Land of Pathé?

[Inigo]

Very interesting indeed. Maybe the label numbers, and the matrix numbers, if they can be seen, shed some light here. The singer, Baugé, is in wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Baug%C3%A9
Seems to be a modern one, this record may be from the beginning of his career...

[CarlosV]

That is a nice finding! I have many French Pathé Baugé records, he recorded prolifically. However the light colored disc is indeed unusual, I have never stumbled on one before. As you suggest, with its typed title it is probably a test pressing.

[drh]

Very interesting indeed. Maybe the label numbers, and the matrix numbers, if they can be seen, shed some light here. The singer, Baugé, is in wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Baug%C3%A9
Seems to be a modern one, this record may be from the beginning of his career...

Here's what appears in the matrix:

On the Carmen side, 4 at the 12 o'clock position, 1608 3 9 R (the 3 and 9 are circled, the other figures/characters aren't) at 6 o'clock

On the Barber side, 4 at the 1 o'clock position, 829 R at 7 o'clock

Now, here's something else that's odd: I just had a glance at Girard and Barnes, Vertical Cut Cylinders and Discs, and although a quick skim of the introductory material revealed nothing about a tan shellac, the book did show that Bauge recorded the Largo al Factotum as separate parts 1 and 2 (which would explain the abrupt end of the selection), issued as the two sides of 0397, and his Toreador Song was issued as one side of 0425. Both show as recorded in 1923-1925. G&B, unless I've missed it, have no entry for him with the numbers on my record.

[WDC]

Very interesting indeed. Also never seen one of those before.
The typewriter label does suggest either a test pressing or a custom order, like the known series by Victor. I tend towards a custom made record due to the lack of saying anything about being a test pressing. Instead, the large logo does suggest a higher importance for advertising, thus being a sold product.
Very cool!