The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I would search online but cannot any more due to the old PC (fifteen years) so am asking what is known about these cylinders. I did search here though and found nothing. So what is known about these cylinders. I found this one dark brown from circa I think 1903 (The Furniture Man) and it has spots but plays loudly. Just looking for history, knowledge and information out of curiosity. Neil

Not sure exactly what information you are looking for.
Columbia made those between C.1902 - 1910 or so up until the four minute came out. The Columbia XP as they were called in catalogs were black and two minute only, brown before that and not referred to as XP. They are frequently found with mold spots and nice shiny examples are not common. Columbia made the same records for the O'neill - James Company that fit a larger mandrel (Busy Bee Records).
Best to find some early sales catalogs.

The cylinder was released in February 1903. You can read about the history of Columbia cylinders at this link.

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/history-columbia.php

Rich Gordon

Thanks for the information. I had never found a slip that says XP cylinder on it so it seemed unusual. Does play very well despite spots. Thanks again. Neil