The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

In my recent pursuit to start catalogueing my diamond discs I've run across a few that have no number anwwhere on the disc, including edge numbers. Anyone know the reason why? I know these titles were assigned numbers. I just can'f figure out why the weren't recorded on the disc somewhere?

They are all etched labels:

National Airs of the Allies
Let Us Not Forget

Indianola
Down in the Jungle Land

Sabre and Spurs March
Le Regement de Sambre et Meuse

I don't know why there aren't any numbers on these.
Here are the ones for the following:

National Airs of the Allies 50509 L
Let Us Not Forget 50509 R

If I find the others I'll post, if no one jumps in!

Bob

I'm not sure why this happened either. I just look up the catalogue numbers here, by doing a search for the matrix number.

http://www.truesoundtransfers.de/disco.htm

Indianola 50493 L
Down in the Jungle Land 50493 R

Sabre and Spurs March 50507 R
Le Regement de Sambre et Meuse 50507 L

Bob

Thanks alot guys.

Interestingly these examples with no numbers all appear very close in sequence. In the ones I've catalogued everything below 50380 and above 50523 have numbers either on the edge or on the face of the record...

I wonder if it had something to do with the changeover from drawers to slot storage in the cabinets around 1918/19?

gramophoneshane wrote:I wonder if it had something to do with the changeover from drawers to slot storage in the cabinets around 1918/19?

I suppose one theory might be that when the edge numbers were discontinued, they thought for a short time that numbering each disc was really not necessary at all, given that the name of the artist and orchestra were visible on the etched label. Then, shortly thereafter Edison told them that was a dumb idea and the discs needed to be numbered sequentially for various reasons???

Here's the story: They discovered that the edge numbers were allowing moisture to penetrate the blank body of the disc, causing warping, swelling and cracks. They stopped numbering them on the edge for that reason, believing the information on the sleeve would suffice. It wasn't long before the discs started getting separated from the sleeves, causing the problem you have. They eventually re-designed the etched label, including the number on the pressing, but during the interim, you have un-numbered discs. I use the old catalogues or Raymond Wile's Edison Disc book to identify the numbers.