The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Here are a couple I found in my basement recently; neither was in its original case. The one on the left is a rendition of "Home Sweet Home" played on bells. The one on the right is some plucky old piano, tune uncertain. Neither has any kind of introduction. The one on the right is particularly odd, as the recording doesn't seem to begin until about a half-inch or so into the grooves, and seems to be going on past where the grooves end. Both sound quite professional. Is it likely they are both home recordings made on blanks? Any idea of the make and year on either?

The one on the right has kind of a
Channeled rim. North american
Edison blanks look like early
Columbia blanks, the tell tale sign
That it is press 1895, is a dark
Rooster tail, band of dark wax
In the spiral portion of the record. If
It does not have the streak, it is a Columbia blank. Circa 1898 Edisons have
Two start spirals. Columbia self
Made brown wax are single.

edisonphonoworks wrote:North american
Edison blanks look like early
Columbia blanks, the tell tale sign
That it is press 1895, is a dark
Rooster tail, band of dark wax
In the spiral portion of the record. If
It does not have the streak, it is a Columbia blank. Circa 1898 Edisons have
Two start spirals. Columbia self
Made brown wax are single.

Forgive me, but I'm not sure what I should be looking at, or for. Can you perhaps post some marked pictures, please?

Was it common for brown wax cylinders to lack a spoken introduction? I have one of McKinley's 1897 inaugural address that does, but I don't know of any others. The cylinder on the left does sound to me like a professional recording.

On the inside portion of the cylinder that
Contacts the mandrel. The thread of wax in the center of the cylinder. Early blank molds had a single inlet mold either a vent. All NAPC cylinders I have seen, have the pour streak in them.

Zenger wrote:Was it common for brown wax cylinders to lack a spoken introduction? I have one of McKinley's 1897 inaugural address that does, but I don't know of any others. The cylinder on the left does sound to me like a professional recording.

Actually yes. There was a short period in the 1890s where some manufacturers would not record announcements, others would do but without naming the company it was recorded for. I strongly assume that this was done so that the records could be re-sold easier by third parties without revealing their sources to competitors.

Basically, the whole decade was full experimental new way of presenting a recording. This is one reason why I find the period so particular interesting. It is much less polished than what one would hear on later recordings.

Btw. the supposed channel rim isn't one. It's just an end with either white mold or other deposits. The rim is where this has been rubbed off, likely by a box lid. I have several cylinders with exactly such an end but these are quite different to a channel rim which actually is real rim.

@Shawn: I like the attention you point towards the inside of a cylinder. Not many have understood the importance of this so far.

Thanks, Norman. I could still really use a couple of annotated pictures to help me grasp what I am looking at, and what I should be looking for.