The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Well, I found another and the signature is exact. I don't mean a match, I mean it's exact, must be some sort of stamp or service coming from the record company, I just can't imagine a man signing two records without the slightest variation. What do you think? Here's the other example.

That would almost certainly be a rubber stamp then. There is a machine called an "autopen" that is used to create signatures on demand. It's primarily used by politicians for routine correspondence but has also been used by astronauts and others. I don't think this is an autopen signature because I would think the mechanical movement would have difficulty moving the pen over a grooved surface so consistently.

But then, how does one explain this in the grooves and in four places ??

Yes, I see that the autographs are identical. It must have been some type of stamp or stencil.

As was mentioned, perhaps these records were "autographed" at the dealer level. My guess is that these were done as promotional items for Harry James appearances.

coyote wrote: Thu Dec 09, 2021 6:01 am That's cool and interesting! I've never seen a signature on the grooves, but the closest I have is an Edison lateral where, oddly, only the grooves with vocals are marked out with a yellow/gold that does not sound. Regular cleaning methods and playing do not remove it at all. Perhaps it is similar to the grease china pencils used for cuing marks.

Just a shot in the dark- could this have been used for EITHER Radio (for some reason?) or the Edison demonstrations with the live singer?

The former was my guess--that it was used in some radio broadcast where the vocals were not wanted. Since it's a needle-type lateral cut, it would be WAY too late for the likes of a tone-test or something like that.

Ended up making a video on these two discs, you can see everything much clearer, orientation, etc...

https://youtu.be/4YERH9L-MaM