The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Well, it's unusual to me, anyway; I've never seen a typed Edison label before. (Victor, yes, for special order discs, but to my knowledge Edison didn't do that.) The reverse label, featuring the same artist, is printed. Can anyone tell me anything about this?

(P.S. The name of the artist, the New York Police Quartet, makes me think of "Fairytale of New York" by the Pogues: "The Boys of the NYPD Choir were singing 'Galway Bay...'" Shane MacGowan later confessed that he'd made up "the NYPD Choir" because he liked the way it sounded in the lyrics, and that the random (real) cops who were brought together to portray them in the video were actually singing the "Mickey Mouse Club" theme, the only song they all knew.)

I bet the original label came off (they do that as they flake at the edge, then the hole in the sleeve slices them off sometimes- common issue on paper label DDs) and someone replaced it with a typewritten one at one time. I have seen NOS sheets of these label blanks on eBay in the past.

gramophone-georg wrote: Wed Aug 07, 2024 2:40 am I bet the original label came off (they do that as they flake at the edge, then the hole in the sleeve slices them off sometimes- common issue on paper label DDs) and someone replaced it with a typewritten one at one time. I have seen NOS sheets of these label blanks on eBay in the past.

Later replacement makes sense. The typed label does not have the same "shelf wear" as the factory label, suggesting it's a later addition.

I remember many years ago Martin Bryan who had The New Amberola Graphic sold blank Edison Diamond Disc labels where you could write or type in the title.I remember my friend Arthur Pare would get these replacements and type in the titles.edisonplayer.

It is easy to scan a good label to edit and prepare a blank for printing new labels, I'm sure we could find a letter style similar to Edison prints for printing new spare label copies.

Another clue is the narrow white border around the outer rim of the label. If you look around 9:00 o'clock, you'll see it is not even, suggesting it was cut out by hand.