Adelina Patti Cylinder at EMI Archives....

[Wolfe]

Oh, This is the first time I have ever saw a TAMAGNO SLEEVE.

Me too. That's really neat.

I have one later Tamagno Victor pressing on the batwing label (post 1914.) But I suppose the picture sleeves for those were long gone by then My disc was sans any sleeve when I got it. Still has the five dollar list price on the label though.

[Starkton]

In fact, Nauck has a Tamagno disc and sleeve in his current auction list. Lot 2541, it's a Monarch pressing with a decent looking sleeve.

The condition is indeed above average, but if you look close the abrasions and creases are disturbing.

[OrthoSean]

Yeah, I know. That's why I thought $100 was a little on the high side. $50 is much more realistic, although I'm sure he'll get his $100 knowing the crazy prices he gets for things sometimes!

It's funny the Tamagno sleeves always seem more battered than the Melba ones I've seen, not that I've seen many, mind you, but the Melba sleeves seem to be in nicer shape.

Sean

[Wolfe]

It's funny the Tamagno sleeves always seem more battered than the Melba ones I've seen, not that I've seen many, mind you, but the Melba sleeves seem to be in nicer shape.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are more just Melba sleeves out there to draw from, she being still a currently active artist on the Victor roster, and still in the public eye, whereas Tamagno was already dead and practically relegated to historical status already by that point.

[gramophone78]

Great info.I could not find the pic of the one at auction.There were 4 other Tamango records in the pile but,only the one sleeve.Clearly,the record was listened to as the wear on the bottom of the sleeve shows.The best record that was in that group was a 7" Selma Kurtz recorded in "WEIN" on G&T black.She is my favorite by far.
Sean,don't go hurting yourself to find one.I was just wanting to compare another to mine.Now that I think about it....I don't remember ever playing any of the Tamango records yet.Last,you say the other is a monarch label.....so,it must be older than mine??.If that's the case,then the sleeve was used for a while.Is that right??.

[OrthoSean]

Tamagno's discs were in print starting from the Monarch era. As far as just how long those sleeves were in use, I'd guess probably from 1904-6. It's likely somebody just matched a disc with a sleeve. Early pressings usually had serial numbers on the labels, but this practice was carried on right up through the Grand Prize Tamagnos I have as well, they seemed to stop with that in the batwing era (1916). Tamagnos discs were available for a LONG time in regular Victor catalogs, I don't think they were ever out of print from 1904 until at least 1916 or 17. If I was home, I'd grab some Victor catalogs and take a look. I know the ten inch Death of Othello and O Muto Asil were both available as batwing pressings, as I've got copies. I tend to grab his records whenever I see them, as he's always been a favorite of mine. IRCC reissued several of his sides master pressed from Victor and later HMV did the same on their red label "DR" and "DS" series, there were six discs total in the series and these must have been available for a long time, they seem to be quite common. A couple of years ago, Historic Masters reissued all of his 12 inch recordings (including a few unissued takes) in a nice boxed set pressed on vinyl from nice fresh stampers. The ten inch stuff was just issued as well a few months back by them too. They're beautiful pressings. I admit it, I'm a Tamagno-haulic.


Sean

[Starkton]

He was a great artist, no doubt:



I wished I had the above record which came from Tamagno's estate, I believe.

[transformingArt]

He was a great artist, no doubt:



I wished I had the above record which came from Tamagno's estate, I believe.

So this is a record that originally belonged to him, huh? I know he made number of Private recordings not for commercial release (including the 'Si, Pel Ciel' from 'Otello' with unknown Baritone), but this is first time I have ever saw one. Starkton, you surely have lots of informations - I envy you for that. What happened to this copy, by the way?

This 'Esultate!' would play less than 1 minute and 40 seconds, yet they had to pay 5 dollars for this back then. And now people complain about CD prices?

And another thing, I wonder if anyone knows about what happened to Caruso's record collection and his phonograph with gold record attached on the lid. Does anyone knows?



@Orthosean

Here are some of my Tamagno records I have - the first two of them were pressed in Japan around 1935-1937, probably using HMV masters. The third one is an early pressing of 'Il Profeta'. I wonder if this was a pressing with the original masters, not 'reproduced/remastered' one - I still don't know much about stamper information.

[OrthoSean]

Nice Japanese pressings! So, yes, I see the DR series was carried over from HMV. The DR and DS series were only for Tamagno discs, apparently and they were available in the U.S. as well via import.

Your early pressing (which has III stamped next to the matrix number) is still a master pressing. The III indicates it's the third stamper made from the 'mother', I believe. His stuff also came out here in the early 1920s on Opera Disc. I had forgotten about that until I got home from work and went searching through my 12 inch Tamagnos for my G&T of "Esultate" which has the same serial number tag in the land. I still haven't located the disc, which means it's among about 700 I've still yet to properly file on my shelving after cleaning!

I also looked through the Victor catalogs from the 1920s and his records last appeared in the 1924 Victor catalog, he was deleted by the time the '25 catalog went out. Not bad, his records stayed in print for a 20 year straight run!

I've also found a little "gem" among my paper goods that I'm going to scan and post a little later...stay tuned!

Sean

[OrthoSean]

Alright, this was easier than I thought...I'm a new Mac user and hadn't tried to scan anything until now. This is just a cool page from the July 1905 Victor record catalog announcing Tamagno's new "lifetime contract" with Victor. A shame since he was dead just a few months later!

Sean