What are these mysterious wax cylinders?

[Zenger]

Hello, everybody. Can anyone out there tell me anything about these wax cylinders? These are the only pictures of them I have, but I am told they're brown (though they look black in the photos) and have no grooves on them. I would have guessed they were Dictophone blanks or something like that, but they look somewhat smaller than those kinds of cylinders. I can't find anything at all about the manufacturer online, much less the cylinders themselves. The graphics on the container look pretty modern to my eyes, which only makes them more of a mystery to me. Any and all information will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[recordmaker]

They certainly look just like Dictaphone cylinders. the format was still operating until 1960 hence the more 1940s style box design is quite expected . There is no reason why non brand company would not need to be making the Dictaphone machines so the refence to them as a company would possibly be in office supply catalogues so not easy to find as entertainment information.

[max_phenol]

Hi,

It is one of the several different dictation cylinder brands. Most common are of course "Ediphone" and "Dictaphone", but there were quite a few more.

I hope there will enough space left to include them in my book about cylinder record brands. Some of the boxes had a pretty nice label design (well, yes, not in particular of this brand).

The picture shows the "Standard" brand boxes variations that I own. There might be some more ...

Cheers,
Helmut

[recordmaker]

Nice to see some box designs for the commercial product , the late one in grey looks like it is impersonating the later Ediphone boxes.