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JohnM wrote: I have a number of cylinders that don't appear to have any 'dot', but there is a mold number.

I also thought that the take dot/s mustn't have printed properly, but I've found 5 in my collection without them, but everything else is printed very clearly.
(1945, 1993, 2007, 2032, & 2098)

It's almost as if someone forgot to include them on the molds.
It's a shame they are all direct recordings. Had they been DD dubs, I could have checked the take numbers. With the mold no. appearing so close after PAT'D, if a 3rd or 4th take had been used, it would be reasonable to assume the take dots were never included due to lack of space between the two..

Another slight variation I came across was on BA4738.
They've squeezed so much info on the cylinder, the take dots are below PATD instead of beside it

You have already touched on my theory of the A- and B- marks. I checked and all but two of my wax Amberols have the A-PAT'D. marks, and B-PAT'D. on the British series cylinders. In my 2-minute Edisons, the A-mark begins with number 10227 and goes to the highest one I have, 10500. In the Blue Amberols, the only one I found was on number 1766, Old Comrades March, played by the U.S. Marine Band, which was originally issued on Amberol 226. We'll have to hear from some collectors in other areas to see if French Amberols were marked F-PAT'D. or if German Amberols were marked G-PAT'D, etc.
One other odd thing I found was one Blue Amberol that was apparently a very late copy. I know that late Diamond Discs say Made in U.S.A. at the bottom of the label, but apparently Edison did the same thing with the cylinders as well. I have a copy of 4447, which was issued in February of 1922, Plantation Lullaby by the Crescent Trio [not a particularly late issue], but instead of the usual PAT'D..10 mark, it has MADE IN U.S.A. ..10 on it. Bob Ault

Any chance of a photo of the Made in USA cylinder?
I never thought to check my wax Amberols. None of my foreign series BA's have a prefix letter prior to PAT'D, but a Chinese Amberol I sold on ebay had Z-PAT'D.
I guess the C had been used for another series??

Very interesting. I still haven't found anything else out about these things. I would love to see a picture of the Made In The USA cylinder too. Could the C- be for the Czech cylinders. I think I have a couple Bohemian cylinders around here somewhere and will try to see if they have a "C" on them.

I never really noticed the hand-inscribed cylinder number and mold in the run-off area before. I haven't looked through mine, but it seems this practice was discontinued after the introduction of the beveled edges on BAs. Any info on this?