Columbia Albums?

[FloridaClay]

I know from some references that my Columbia Viva Tonal 710 came with 4 12" brown cloth-covered albums, now long gone. Victor albums are common as can be, but I don't recall seeing a Columbia. Anybody have a picture of one so I know what to look for?

Clay

[marcapra]

Yes Victrola albums are common as are Brunswick, but Columbia you rarely see. My Columbia 800 came with four brown albums, all meant for 12" records. My Columbia albums say Columbia Grafonola on them and have no printing on the spine, just a ring pull. I don't know if Columbia ever made any albums that said the words "Viva Tonal" on them. At least I've never seen them.

[OrthoSean]

Those Columbia albums you've posted photos of are for earlier Grafonolas and not the Viva Tonal models. I have ONE and if I can find it, I will post a photo, they are quite different than these. Stay tuned, I'll check one likely "spot" within a couple hours....

Sean

[OrthoSean]

Found it, and I'm glad I did. I had set this "somewhere where I wouldn't forget about it" to put in my 711. Low and behold, it wasn't where I thought, but I did find it after digging through a few boxes of albums in the garage. It's no wonder not many of these are around, this one is very rickety to say the least. I've since put it in my 711 where it can stay with no records in it.

Hope this helps.

Sean

[Uncle Vanya]

Those Columbia albums you've posted photos of are for earlier Grafonolas and not the Viva Tonal models. I have ONE and if I can find it, I will post a photo, they are quite different than these. Stay tuned, I'll check one likely "spot" within a couple hours....

Sean

Well, the albums in Marc's machine turn up in "New Columbia" models. I had an 800 which came out of the estate of the original owner in Phenix, VA which was fitted with those albums. Another machine (a 710 as I recall) turned up so equipped in a junk shop in Baltimore, and yet another may still be seen in its original home in St. Louis.

Did your album come with your 711? Wasn't that a 1927 model?

[OrthoSean]

This album didn't come with the machine. I have plenty of the black Columbia "Grafonola" albums, but it would raise a question to me as to why Columbia would want "Grafonola" on an album that was replacing an obsolete type of machine, if that makes sense.

Also, original literature says specifically "brown". Has anyone seen a brown Columbia "Grafonola" album? I haven't, which doesn't mean anything necessarily.

Two years ago, there was an 810 on Craigslist in the midwest I was trying (but failed) to buy which had the albums like the one I pictured above. Almost all of the eight of them had the spines torn off, but the covers with the larger logo were still there.

There's also an ad that ran in at least one issue of the Talking Machine World likely from '27 or maybe '28 that pictures the album I have. If I can locate it easily, I will post it.

Perhaps they just used up old stock first? I'm just guessing.

Sean

[gregbogantz]

The albums that came with my Columbia 810 are just like the one you have pictured, Sean. There is no spine label of any kind and no pull ring or finger notch or other means of extracting the album on the spine. I got my 810 from another collector who was pretty good about keeping his stuff authentic, so I assume these are the correct original albums. The rest of the machine is completely original. All four of my albums are the same and they are all for 12 inch records. I don't know if that's accurate, but the shelves in the 810 are all the same size. It could be that two of the original albums might have had 10 inch sleeves inside of a 12 inch cover, as I've seen Victor do on some models, but mine are all fitted with 12 inch sleeves.

[marcapra]

Also, original literature says specifically "brown". Has anyone seen a brown Columbia "Grafonola" album? I haven't, which doesn't mean anything necessarily.

I thought my Columbia Grafonola albums were brown, but on looking at mine again and then comparing to yours, mine could just be a black faded by 90 years into a blackish brown. But U. V. said he has seen several of the Viva Tonal machines with the Grafonola albums. My albums don't have a copyright date, but I see that yours says 1925 on it which makes me believe that they are the correct albums for the Viva Tonal machines. They don't say "Viva Tonal" on them, but maybe Columbia didn't know what the new machine was going to be called at that time. Sean, you mentioned an 810 you saw that was for sale and had 8 albums like yours. Did you really mean 4? There is only room for 4 albums in an 810. Also I have every issue of Talking Machine world for the year 1928, so I will look for that ad you mentioned.

[OrthoSean]

Yes, I meant four albums! Sorry!

For what it's worth, my 711 (and I assume the 710 also) has space for four of these, also all 12 inches high. I inherited a huge collection of discs a few years ago that were all stored in albums of various makes and this was among them. I still have yet to unpack and empty about half of these albums, so I'm hoping I can find three more to put in my machine. I certainly wouldn't put records in them though, they seem just as fragile as those used in machines like the 8-35 and the like.

I'll do a quick TMW search here in my office and see if by chance I saved the ad I remember seeing. It was one that clearly shows the 710 (or 711) and 810 and possibly others. The logo on the album is very clearly shown, but that's about all I can remember.

Back to the Grafonola albums for a second also, since this is sort of connected, I've also never seen a 10 inch one of those, nor one fitted with ten inch sleeves. Years ago, I had an L-2 with some of them, but they were all 12 inch ones. In an old book I have, or once had, called "Music Machines, American Style" there is a photo of a "new" L-2 shown open full of nothing but these albums and all 12 inch ones. Another collector here picked up an L-2 a couple years ago and it also came with all 12 inch albums.

Sorry to ramble, but I do find details like this fascinating!

Sean

[FloridaClay]

Thanks all!

Sean, I think your example is the correct type. The center of the large inside-the-lid decal on my 710 is the note in a circle, so it would fit right in. Will add 4 of them to my Orlando phono show shopping list for January and hope some turn up.

Clay