The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

After spending countless hours trying to remove all of the background from inside and around all of the font characters in the original picture and also the frustration of trying to remove all remnants of distortion from the photos due to the curve of the lid and the offset of the pics, I decided to try one other method.

I started over and hand typeset all of the characters in the document to create a new label which is extremely close to the original. Maybe not perfect for you perfectionists, but I think totally acceptable since no one will be comparing lids and measuring discrepancies and once it is aged and applied inside a lid, no one will notice... I tried for as authentic a look as possible and since the original was hand set, there is no consistency in the spacing. To duplicate the font used, each capital had to be enlarged, since the original font capitals are larger than the lowercase letters. Someone mentioned in a previous post that we should find an old time print shop and have it duplicated... great idea, but none exist and no one is using a type tray to set documents for printing, so that was out. This is as close as possible to that process, in my opinion...

Looks great and fairly authentic except for the round circle in the center. On aged paper on a curved lid I doubt if anyone can tell the difference. As I said before I do not see to many people inspecting the label in a lid when they check out a Edison to see if it is OK. I do not think there are too many Edison label collectors but one never knows what some people collect. I think you could put your initials in a corner to show it is a reproduction if you want to. That would cover all bases. Those will be in the measurements of 5 13/16 in long and 4 13/16 in tall or going around the curve. Tom B
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Here is the prototype in the correct landscape format. Obviously, when printed, the copyright logo will be removed...

Now, how about some feedback...

I combined yours with the original to see how close they were. It looks like you may need to decrease your font size in a few areas, increase the kerning on the word "Reproducers" at the top, and bump down the line under the title. Otherwise, it looks pretty good.

Thanks, Brandon... that shows exactly what I needed...

Since I didn't have an exact sized copy, I spaced it by eye from the original...

In looking back at the image you overlayed, it was one that I manipulated, so the bottom paragraph under IMPORTANT was "squinched" to take out distortion and straighten the margins. The upper paragraph was not manipulated, so that makes me confident that the spacing on the new prototype is pretty close other than a few adjustments...

That overlay is great. Yours follows it closely. Yours seems to be clearer than the original. I guess modern printing is more consistent than the old type setting method so that may be what is effecting the spacing. Any how great job I know you have put in a lot of time on this. Tom B

Here is a final sample, aged and cut to correct size. Since this is hand aged, not printed, each image will vary.... these are more orange than yellow in person, aged with Amber shellac...
Listed in the Trader section for sale at $20 each including shipping... PM your mailing address, if interested and I will send them out...

They look excellent. I will take four. Tom B

Thanks for the positive comments...

5 sold and more available...