A 78 RPM Diamond Disc?

[SonnyPhono]

Ok...so this isn't a Diamond Disc. But it is a Diamond record. : )

Has anyone heard of these before?

[syncopeter]

Strange. It is a British composition (W.H. Gilbert, from the famous Gilbert&Sullivan operattas) and has an etched label, so I assume it is rather early.

[gramophoneshane]

They're a vertical cut record made by Pathé for the Diamond Disc Record Company Ltd in London. I think the company started around 1915??
Not an easy label to find.

[SonnyPhono]

Thanks again, G-shane. I thought it looked like a vertically cut record. Why would Pathé make them and not put their name on the record? It's pretty interesting either way.

[syncopeter]

Yes, that makes complete sense. I thought I had seen one sometime but couldn't remember anymore. And those Gilbert tunes were very popular in Britain. Pathé did the weirdest things.

[epigramophone]

It is several years since I last heard a Diamond record played, but from memory it was a centre start.

The year 1915 is significant, because this was about the time when Pathé records changed from centre start to edge start, although they continued to be vertically cut.

By producing records for the Diamond company, Pathé may have earned extra revenue from their obsolete master recordings, but I have no evidence to support this theory.

[gramophoneshane]

The year 1915 is significant, because this was about the time when Pathé records changed from centre start to edge start, although they continued to be vertically cut.

I think it was around this time when Pathé first used a paper label too. I dont own any of their early paper labelled records, so I'm not sure if they were all outside start, or if centre start pressings exist, but the first paper labels used the same design as the etched label.
If I remember correctly, these Diamond records can be found with a paper label also.

[syncopeter]

It must have been quite an undertaking though, because wasn't 1915 also the first year that the Huns started laying mines in the English channel and patrolling with their first U-boots?

[epigramophone]

Almost all centre start Pathé discs have the etched label, but I own a small number with paper labels which I assume were late issues.

All edge start discs have the paper labels, but I do not know when the design changed to include the famous cockerel emblem.

Pathé's habit of reallocating serial numbers from deleted recordings can make life difficult for today's discographers.

[epigramophone]

It must have been quite an undertaking though, because wasn't 1915 also the first year that the Huns started laying mines in the English channel and patrolling with their first U-boots?

Yes, the 1914-18 war had a dramatic effect on the British record industry. Many smaller companies at the lower end of the market went out of business, because the supply of cheap German imports on which they relied quickly dried up.