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Can anyone give me a hint to how uncommon and valuable the original "Be British" wax amberol is? I cant seem to find much info on it online, other than the copies they sell on vulcan records.

https://www.vulcanrecords.com/shop/spec ... e-british/

Thanks
Martin

This title appeared to me first when designed the label for that record. I haven't seen it as an original since then. But just by song theme itself, this wax amberol would have been only sold in the UK anyway. That song was also releasd by a few other labels on disc, which aren't also that easy to come by.

Read the interesting background piece. I was confused by the money amount relating to today.

If indeed 400,000 Pounds was raised in 1912 money, at an inflation of 2490% since 1912 (prices average 24.9 times higher in 2019 than 1912), and recall at that time the exchange rate to the dollar was $5 US = 1 Pound, then the value in US dollars would be roughly $50M US not $20M US.

Hmmm.....that means an Edison A250 at $250 in 1912 would be $6250 in today's money. Not cheap!

Interesting insight. Whenever I see old 78s with the $1 price tag I always think about the inflation rate. That one piano solo piece cost a family over $25. Its no wonder a lot of beloved 78s are worn all the way to white. People were getting their moneys worth!

travisgreyfox wrote:Interesting insight. Whenever I see old 78s with the $1 price tag I always think about the inflation rate. That one piano solo piece coast a family over $25. Its no wonder a lot of beloved 78s are worn all the way to white. People were getting their moneys worth!

...and yet the most expensive ones often seem to be the least played, as if it meant more to simply know you had, and could afford, a copy of the "Lucia" sextette than to actually listen to it.

The 1908 Victor Lucia Sextet issue with Caruso and Sembrich cost $8 new. That is about $200 today!

That is an awful lot of money for 4 minutes of music. You could have bought a top price (non box) ticket to a Metropolitan Opera performance with Caruso in 1908 for $10. I guess the record was permanent: you could hear it over and over (until it wore out or you accidentally broke it).

...and yet the most expensive ones often seem to be the least played, as if it meant more to simply know you had, and could afford, a copy of the "Lucia" sextette than to actually listen to it.

Yes, true. As Groucho Marx said to the manager of the Metropolitan Opera, "$10,000 to hire tenor Luigi Laspari! That's an outrage! Why for 75 cents I can get a phonograph record of Minnie the Moocher, for a dollar and a quarter, I can get Minnie!"