Perfect Record Colour

[MisterGramophone]

I was looking through my records and I found a Perfect record. Why are they brown though instead of the typical black? Is this the forefather of those modern coloured vinyl records or something? Even weirder, I also have a black record by them.

[Orchorsol]

I always wondered about the reason for this colour with some labels, but I assume it was just a different shellac compound formulation (recipe) they switched to sometimes, perhaps due to temporary supply issues with ingredients, and these formulations just happen to exclude the carbon black.
Then very occasionally, presumably on changeover, you get the odd 'splatter' disc!
Carbon black is a structural filler as well as a pigment, yet I don't see any significant difference in wear characteristics, which interests me further.

[epigramophone]

The earliest Aeolian Vocalion discs were pressed in a similar reddish brown shellac. Needless to say, Vocalion claimed it to be superior to black, but they soon discontinued it in favour of black.
A more attractive colour was the dark blue used by American Odeon on discs which were said to be for export only, but this did not prevent US Columbia from taking legal action which forced them to cease production.
Blue reappeared in the 1930's on US Columbia's Royal Blue label, said to be pressed on a super fine grade of shellac.

[MisterGramophone]

The earliest Aeolian Vocalion discs were pressed in a similar reddish brown shellac. Needless to say, Vocalion claimed it to be superior to black, but they soon discontinued it in favour of black.
A more attractive colour was the dark blue used by American Odeon on discs which were said to be for export only, but this did not prevent US Columbia from taking legal action which forced them to cease production.
Blue reappeared in the 1930's on US Columbia's Royal Blue label, said to be pressed on a super fine grade of shellac.

“Superior to black” — Switches to black.

[JerryVan]

The earliest Aeolian Vocalion discs were pressed in a similar reddish brown shellac. Needless to say, Vocalion claimed it to be superior to black, but they soon discontinued it in favour of black.
A more attractive colour was the dark blue used by American Odeon on discs which were said to be for export only, but this did not prevent US Columbia from taking legal action which forced them to cease production.
Blue reappeared in the 1930's on US Columbia's Royal Blue label, said to be pressed on a super fine grade of shellac.

“Superior to black” — Switches to black. Also, casual 1900s racism it seems.

Oh, please...

[edisonplayer]

The first Perfect records were black.edisonplayer.

[MisterGramophone]

The first Perfect records were black.edisonplayer.

When did they switch to brown to try to stand out or something?

[MisterGramophone]

The earliest Aeolian Vocalion discs were pressed in a similar reddish brown shellac. Needless to say, Vocalion claimed it to be superior to black, but they soon discontinued it in favour of black.
A more attractive colour was the dark blue used by American Odeon on discs which were said to be for export only, but this did not prevent US Columbia from taking legal action which forced them to cease production.
Blue reappeared in the 1930's on US Columbia's Royal Blue label, said to be pressed on a super fine grade of shellac.

“Superior to black” — Switches to black.

Oh, please...

Don’t feed the trolls

[ChesterCheetah18]

The "red" records (as Vocalion called them) are simply the natural color of the shellac without any dye added. They are neither better or worse than any others. It was simply a marketing gimmic. "Splatter" records are also just a novelty, with small globs of differently dyed shellac mixed in.

Steve

[MisterGramophone]

The "red" records (as Vocalion called them) are simply the natural color of the shellac without any dye added. They are neither better or worse than any others. It was simply a marketing gimmic. "Splatter" records are also just a novelty, with small globs of differently dyed shellac mixed in.

Steve

Sounds like classic early 1900s marketing. Today, if Dutton Vocalion tried marketing natural colour as “superior”, they’d be sued for false advertising.
Though the red records are pretty pretty.