Are These Melba Records

[OrthoSean]

Melba discs did not have serial numbers on them. There are a couple of the 1904 Melbas in particular that are hard to find unworn because they are very forward recordings. The $75 asking price that 52089 quotes from the Danbury show would have to be for exceptional condition copies IMO. I have lots of Mauve Label US Melba Victors and several UK issues as well. The sleeves are much more uncommon than the records, which I never thought were that terribly hard to find, despite the $5 selling price in 1904, they sold reasonably well.

Sean

[gramophone78]

Melba discs did not have serial numbers on them. There are a couple of the 1904 Melbas in particular that are hard to find unworn because they are very forward recordings. The $75 asking price that 52089 quotes from the Danbury show would have to be for exceptional condition copies IMO. I have lots of Mauve Label US Melba Victors and several UK issues as well. The sleeves are much more uncommon than the records, which I never thought were that terribly hard to find, despite the $5 selling price in 1904, they sold reasonably well.

Sean

Wow!!...they were $5 in the US..??. They were $3 in Canada...as printed on the label.

[OrthoSean]

Yes, just like the Patti and Tamgano discs were. Later Melba issues, Red Seals, were mostly $3 each for solo recordings, her few duets cost more than $3, but I didn't check how much more while I was just downstairs where mine all are. She remade many of those 1904 recordings, sometimes a few times over.

Sean

[neilmack]

Did the original mauve Melba records carry serial numbers? I have both G&T and Victor Tamagno records that carry serial numbers. All of my Tamagno records have red labels, but I have seen pictures of the green labels.

Red was the original colour used for "celebrity" records. The earliest are probably the Russian ones of 1901/2 - Figner & his wife, the first 10" Chaliapins. The earliest pressings of these actual have the words "Red Seal" around the outside. Reds were next issued in London (the so called London reds) and in Milan in 1902 and in the US in 1903.

Tamagno discs were originally red label and all had a serial number. I have never seen another top artist to be serial numbered on G&T. The reason for the Tamagno serial numbered discs was that he had negotiated a royalty on every pressing sold, the first artist to do so. The serial no. tab on a G&T was actually in two parts, the outer of which was detached when the disc sold. The tab was sent back to head office to enable the royalty calculation to be made.

Subsequently the 12" Tamagno discs seem to have been issued only on green label, but that exclusivity can't have lasted long - the commonest green labels are Caruso's concerted numbers. In 1910 the Gramophone Co. issued its 12" McCormacks (licensed from Victor) on a bright green label, but seem to have switched within months to a standard red label. Only brighter/lighter greens denoted a premium product for the Gramophone Co. - dark green, originally the characteristic colour of Zonophone, denoted a budget label - a distinction that survived into the LP era (CLP/CSD series).

[neilmack]

Other eminent singers were similarly honoured in the early days, including Patti (pink) Battistini (orange) and Tamagno (green). Eventually the red label became the main celebrity colour.

According to Bauer, Chaliapin's earliest 12" discs (1907-8) shared the orange label with Battistini. Never having seen one, years ago I asked a well known authority about them, who assured me they didn't exist - it was another of Bauer's mistakes. Later when I proudly showed him an orange label 1907 Chaliapin I had snaffled - he looked at it gravely, and said the he still preferred to doubt their existence.