Graphophone Grand Prize Decals

[Phonofreak]

What are the dates of the Gramophone Grand Prize decals? The one in particular is the circular decal designating the 1900 Paris Exposition. I have seen these decals on late AJ and AH machines. When were these first produced and when were they stopped before the Shield decal with the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair decal came out?
Harvey Kravitz

[Phonofreak]

I guess I should have been more clear. On the early Cylinder Graphophones and Disk Graphophones with the banner decals, on the back or sides there were Grand Prize decals. Some of the early machines has a circular decal with the 1900 Paris Exposition. When was this decal used? To expand, when did the subsequent Grand Prize Decals come about? I checked my Sept 2016 APS magazine to read the the Graphophone banner decals article. No mention was about the Grand Prize decals. Any info when these decals were used? George P., any insight?
Harvey Kravitz

[phonogfp]

Harvey,

It's a tough question, and one I've wondered about as well. Since it's presently impossible to precisely date most individual Graphophones, all we can do estimate. A little over a year ago I wrote an article for The Antique Phonograph in which I attempted to date the variations of the AH Disc Graphophone. I thought that with a machine as common as the AH, and with period trade journals such as The Music Trades and The Columbia Record to help me, the answers would become obvious. Well, Columbia didn't publicize changes within models (probably to help clear older stock) so my dates of changes within the AH consist of ranges varying from ⅔ months to 6/8 months.

New models were, of course, quickly publicized, so for the 1900 Paris decal, study could be made of, say, the AA Graphophone introduced in 1901. Are there any early examples of the AA which lack that decal? Just an example...

I don't recall seeing a 1900 Paris on the backsides of late AGs, but that would be helpful because we have tighter dating ability with models like that. Plus, there's the article you mentioned which dates the banner decals. Using the banner decal as a reference and obtaining a large enough sample might help - but possibly only for that particular model. In other words, the AA cylinder Graphophone (as an example) might have been supplied with the Paris 1900 decal months before the AK Disc Graphophone was.

The same procedure could be used to narrow the introduction date of the St. Louis 1904 decal, but by that time the banner decals were undergoing only occasional changes, so model introduction dates would be about all there would be to work with.

I think someone should do research on this!

George P.

[Phonofreak]

George, Thanks for the info. I do have an early AK with the 1900 Paris Exposition Decal. I have seen fancy case AH and the later style AH with the same decal. That may be a subsequent article to go with your Banner Decal article. Thanks for the help. If anyone else has any insight or info, lets hear what you have to say.
Harvey Kravitz