The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I have a whole bunch of Edison DD records. What makes them desirable? Record number, military marches, etc.? Is there any guidance (list) of which record(s)is more collectible than any other record? Thanks

There are a number of factors that affect the value of Edison DD records, including personal tastes.

In general, the white-paper record labels are more desirable than the black-etched record labels, due to sonic improvements over the earlier records. The 52000 series, starting at 52089, are particularly desirable because they were electrically recorded.

Not too many people prefer religious or Hawaiian more than marches, fox-trots or Jazz. A lot of sentimental love songs are dated and not too exciting. Some recording artists are more popular than others.

Finally, the condition of a record affects its value.

Watch prices on eBay for a while to get a feel for current tastes and prices.

The criteria of 'desirability', as has been mentioned, will vary from collector to collector,as well as from time to time.

Still, in general, DDs are often liked for their sheer recording quality. The pre-war etched labels are often way ahead of their competitors in fidelity, and the paper labels even better. True, there were the 'dark days' of the war era; but even then you can find the occasional gem, as I have found.

Yes, there are the ubiquitous Hawaiian selections, hymns and 'heart songs'; but the fact remains that, when Diamond Discs were good, they were very, VERY good.

Bill

Thanks much. Guess I'll go through them this weekend.

Bill

dutchman wrote:I have a whole bunch of Edison DD records. What makes them desirable? Record number, military marches, etc.? Is there any guidance (list) of which record(s)is more collectible than any other record? Thanks

Watch, too, for operatic and classical instrumental issues, particularly by undisputed headliners like Jacques Urlus, Claudia Muzio, and Carl Flesch. Interesting historical tidbit: Frieda Hempel's sole commercially released electric recordings were two sides on Edison diamond disc 80888, Dvorak's "Songs My Mother Taught Me" coupled with Mendelssohn's "On Wings of Song."

I've seen warnings pretty frequently about the relatively poor quality of DDs produced during the world war. Can anyone give an idea of the numbering range that would be best to avoid for this reason?

Thanks-
Cody

Cody K wrote:I've seen warnings pretty frequently about the relatively poor quality of DDs produced during the world war. Can anyone give an idea of the numbering range that would be best to avoid for this reason?

Thanks-
Cody

No, because the numbering range of war date releases would not include re-pressings of earlier titles.

The best way to avoid noisy pressings is to avoid the etched label discs that have date codes below the Edison signature on one side of the label. These codes look like "A9", "B11", "C1",and so on. "A" means 1916, "B" is 1917, and "C" is 1918. The numbers are the month, so, for example, "B7" means July 1917.

See the Copeland and Sherman Collector's Guide to Edison Records for more details and month-by-month quality ratings.

Be on the lookout for greetings from the bunch at orange and LUNF.

Thanks for that, 52089. It hadn't occurred to me that the continuing production of older titles would preclude knowing the year of production from the disc number. I appreciate your explanation of the code.

Looks like the book is kind of hard to come by?

C.

Cody K wrote:Thanks for that, 52089. It hadn't occurred to me that the continuing production of older titles would preclude knowing the year of production from the disc number. I appreciate your explanation of the code.

Looks like the book is kind of hard to come by?

C.

Published by Monarch Record Enterprises, Tustin, CA 92782
Printed by Ivy Press in Dallas.

Michael Sherman is co-author of this and several other phonograph books. You might be able to contact him through one of the other publishers. It's a slim book, only about 80 pages, but I find myself referring to it quite frequently.