The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi,
This Edison cylinder box for an unshaved blank was on eBay about ten years ago. I am looking for the collector who bought it, or someone who has another example of that particular box. I'd need photos of it for my book project.
Thanks!

I have several that say "Edison Recording Blank" that are very similar, if that would help.

Did Edison sell both shaved and unshaved blanks? Perhaps at the beginning? I have the Edison Recording Blank record boxes too. I am going to go through the boxes and see if any say shaved blank or unshaved.

I wonder if both were sold at the beginning and later went to all shaved, with "shaved blank" just being a holdover if there were no such thing as an "unshaved blank" anymore. I have several where the "shaved" designation was moved to a rubber stamp on the top.

I'd pose this question. Could Edison sell old stock or recordings that for whatever reason were of no use in the "unshaven" box ? The buyer would then shave their own blank and save the company from having to do it themselves before selling it ?

I have seen a notice in a copy of the Edison Phonograph Monthly stating that the supply of unshaved blanks will stop but I am not sure which date it was.

I assume that the slowness of shaving a blank on a domestic machine rather than on a shaving machine and the removal of the shaver attachments as standard equipment from the phonographs themselves when the model B machines were introduced around 1903 meant that very few people were buying the unshaved version.

Thanks everyone for their replies, but I really need to find someone who ownes this particular box. I continue to work on my planned book about cylinder record boxes and this box is a variation that I couldn't find so far to photograph it.

Please, anyone who has an example or knows someone who has one, get in touch with me!

Many thanks,
Helmut