The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Does anyone have any of these Edison Sample records? Do they contain exerpts of several Edison records or entire performances of recordings of each selection? Were these given away in record or other stores selling Edison phonographs? Also it says "Property of Thomas A. Edison Not To Be Sold ". Maybe these records were not given to the public as samples but just played in record stores selling Edison phonographs as promotion.

I believe you're correct in assuming that these discs were to be used by Edison dealers to audition the songs either for themselves or the record buyers. I believe each song title had just an excerpt included. These show up every so often for sale on the auction sites, but I don't know what the current prices are.
I have a twelve-inch dealer demonstration copy of the long-play disc which has six complete tunes on each side. The total playing time for both sides is about 40 minutes.
The sound is of varying quality, since all the tunes were dubs from earlier discs.
Bob

gramophoneshane wrote:I can't remember who posted it now...micamonster maybe??

I was trying to figure that out—so far I found a post of Norman’s that included these two images:

But the box.net links to the mp3s he posted no longer work.

— MordEth

I have one Edison 12 inch sample record. On both sides it contains popular foxtrots, but only about the first 30 seconds of each one. Sort of disappointing really. A song ends just when you are starting to enjoy it!

I acquired an Edison Sample Record many years ago in the original red colored sleeve having never been played. I often wondered if the songs were complete and interesting now to find out they are only part of a song. As far as pricing these, I have seen them sold on Ebay during 2018 and 2019 for $250 to $300 on only two listings.

Each song is announced by someone who doesn't sound particularly enthusiastic, there is then a clip of the so g lasting approximately 30 - 45 secords, at which point it abruptly ends. They sell on Ebay for $200 - $500.

I have three available as reproductions, 10, 12 and 13 (the last one).

I am lucky enough to have several of these. I really enjoy them, because they represent an interesting slice of time in the Edison catalog. You get to hear the diversity of selections available in the non-classical series at the moment each sampler was produced, and it’s quite diverse indeed.

They are distinctly non-commercial in their approach. The guy announcing the catalog numbers is definitely annoyed that they made him do it; he’s got both a New Jersey accent and a New Jersey attitude. The production values are low, with abrupt starts and stops for each snippet.

They certainly are not meant to be heard by the public; rather, they would be a means of helping the dealers know which selections to stock.

I would very much like to see clear photos of the red sleeve mentioned in a prior posting. Has anyone else seen or heard of these?

Another interesting characteristic is that the groove is not continuous throughout. The "gaps" between selections have no groove, so the reproducer just coasts along until the feedscrew moves it enough to pick up the next song snippet.

I, too, would like to see a picture of the original sleeve.