The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

The reproduction of the engraved master backplate used on some of these records replicates the engraving tooling marks very faithfully so I can see how it may look like that it was done directly.

But what a task etching or engraving a material that is highly resistant to a hard steel needle and goes grey when scratched!

The knight on the white stallion has finally arrived and saved Camelot. I have also wondered about the etching too. Tom

Artwork could have been added by lithograph or engraving and electrotype. These technologies were very common and well developed by the 1890's.

In short, an artist could have drawn the design onto paper and the used a 3D pantograph to carve the design into wax. The wax carving would be powdered with graphite and electroplated until a shell was built up. The shell would be removed from the wax, then the shell would be coated with a "mold release" and plated to form a positive copy; the process would be repeated as necessary.

Some of the b-side etched/pressed graphics are wonderful intricate designs.

They could have been produced by laser-guided cnc machines (more accurate and repeatable than the old guy in the back room), but that technology wasn't invented until almost a century later.

CarlosV wrote: Sun May 09, 2021 8:37 am Actually there are some etched records that come close to the idea of the old guy doing it in the back room. There are some special pressings, like a commemorative Imperial German record with a bas-relief of the Kaiser and wife that looks hand-made, at least the source for metal matrix was probably handicrafted. There are not many of these around, and probably not many were issued in the first place.

Those were probably made by a diemaker. The same people who carve the dies for making coins, which in many countries is still done by hand by skilled artisans. (Also medals are done the same way.)