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I bought these two cylinders as a pair many years ago. I think they may be United States Phonograph Company cylinders, dating from the mid to late 1890s.

The first cylinder is announced "Band Selection - Light Cavalry Overture" and the second is announced, "Alabama Troubadours - Original Minstrel First Part."

As you can see (hear), neither cylinder announces a performer or recording company.

I did find an old Thomas Edison's Attic episode with the same Alabama Troubadours title but my cylinder is a different recording https://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/13994 ("High Old Time" is sung in mine). The "Old Homestead Quartet" is listed as the performer in that the Thomas Edison's Attic description so I'm thinking maybe mine is also performed by the "Old Homestead Quartet."

Not sure who the band would be in my "Light Cavalry Overture" recording.

I wasn't able to find any exact matches for my cylinders in the UCSB website database.

Any thoughts on the performers, dates, and record companies?

(Double-click the video above or click this link to go to the video on YouTube.)

(Double-click the video above or click this link to go to the video on YouTube.)

Another question.

In Allen Koenigsberg's Edison Cylinder Records, 1889-1912, he dates Edison brown wax cylinders #1 through #4610 as all being recorded between Jan 1896 - May 1899 (with a couple of exceptions).

Does anyone know if these were released in chronological order?

In other words, was Edison record #2 (entitled "America") produced in 1896 while #4600 ("I Don't Like No Cheap Man") was recorded in 1899?

I'm trying to date some of my early Edison brown wax cylinders and would like more precise data (if it exists).

Thanks!

If you post your question at the link below, one of the foremost historians of early brown wax (John Levin) will see it and can possibly help you:

https://forum.antiquephono.org/forum/13 ... r-records/

Good luck!

George P.

Thanks, George, I'll try that.

No need to be enticed to a different forum, I have been into brown wax cylinders for over two decades myself.

With each block of numbers, the first recording of a selection was usually made in chronological order. And here's were the problems of dating brown wax cylinders begins:
If the same title was re-recorded, even by a different artist, it would normally get the very same catalog number re-assigned. That is why we can even find Edison black wax cylinders with lower two-digit brown wax era numbers.

Therefore we have to rely on other facts as well to give a proper date or at least an approximation. The most important ones are any possible announcements and their different styles, the shape of a cylinder and its inner spirals, the recorded speed (if it can be determined precisely), and the recording quality itself.

The latter is something I found particularly interesting as most pre-1897 recordings tend to be much more prone to a distinctive resonance that completely vanished in 1897 an onward.

Glenn Sage has been a pioneer of modern digitization of early brown wax cylinders and I highly recommend his CDs series. The inlays come with interesting description to give you hints on what to look out for while you can listen along:

http://www.tinfoil.com/cylshop.htm