Opéra Record label

[Lucas]

Anyone have any information about the Opéra records label? I bought this on eBay from France and can't find much information about it. It is vertical cut and has a very wide groove. They grooves are so wide that you can see the hill and dale pattern without a magnifying glass (as seen in picture 3). Here are links to the websites that mention Opéra records:

https://www.artlyriquefr.fr/personnages ... urice.html

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-us/auct ... f7000f9802

http://78rpmrecord.com/labelshow.cfm?whichLabel=8632

These still don't have very much about the Opéra label though.

Here are the pictures

[epigramophone]

According to this French article, the Corona and Opera labels were launched by the Parisian publisher Etienne Chanoit.

https://journals.openedition.org/afas/1462

[Lucas]

Thank you. Do you also know if they made players or if they where ment to be played on other players (like pathé)?

[epigramophone]

As the subject of the article is "Sapphire" discs I assume that they would play on Pathé and similar machines. I have never seen a French Corona or Opera machine.

[Lucas]

What about the super wide groove? I don't own any pathé records but comparing pictures of my Opéra record it looks like it has a much wider groove then a pathé.

[Wolfe]

It should still play on a Pathé or similar machine with a sapphire ball stylus. You're only trying to track the vertical modulation after all.

[Lucas]

Would it damage the record to play it on a modern record player with a 78 stylus? Wouldn't the stylus scratch along the bottom of the groove and cause damage?

[Wolfe]

Wouldn't the stylus scratch along the bottom of the groove and cause damage?

On a modern record player, no.

[CarlosV]

The Opera discs have the same grooves as the vertical Pathés. There are also Opera machines, but all that I saw are of low quality, made of cheap wood and assembled with Swiss parts. Its soundbox is interesting, though, it is the only soundbox I have seen made for sapphire records that has an aluminum diaphragm, see the photo below. Unfortunately, its sound is not very good, most likely due to the thick sheet utilized.

[Lucas]

Thanks! Do you know what years they where made? This website https://www.artlyriquefr.fr/personnages ... urice.html has 5 Opéra records with the same singer as mine all from 1914.