Brown Wax Cylinders
Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2025 7:20 pm
Greetings. I have acquired a number of brown wax cylinders over the years, and with them a bunch of questions, which I have been saving up for a post. Here they are:
1. Without the original cases and/or title slips, and absent an announced title (in my experience, not all cylinders from this era have them), how can I tell the difference between a Columbia and an Edison brown wax cylinder? Do the inner grooves look different? The rims? Anything?
2. With the same qualifiers: How can I tell the difference between a studio recording and a home recording? (Some home recordings I have heard sound at least somewhat professional.)
3. I have some studio cylinders that are dark brown but are playable with an Edison C or a Columbia Lyric reproducer. What are these?
4. Were many more Columbia brown wax cylinders made than Edison? Almost every identifiable one I have is a Columbia.
5. In what years were they produced?
6. Are brown wax cylinders more susceptible to mold than black wax? In my experience, for every 10 brown wax cylinders I have found, 7 or 8 are totally covered in thick white mold.
My apologies if some of these questions have been addressed elsewhere before, but I couldn't find relevant threads, and I would find it very helpful to have all this information in one place.
Thank you all for your help!
1. Without the original cases and/or title slips, and absent an announced title (in my experience, not all cylinders from this era have them), how can I tell the difference between a Columbia and an Edison brown wax cylinder? Do the inner grooves look different? The rims? Anything?
2. With the same qualifiers: How can I tell the difference between a studio recording and a home recording? (Some home recordings I have heard sound at least somewhat professional.)
3. I have some studio cylinders that are dark brown but are playable with an Edison C or a Columbia Lyric reproducer. What are these?
4. Were many more Columbia brown wax cylinders made than Edison? Almost every identifiable one I have is a Columbia.
5. In what years were they produced?
6. Are brown wax cylinders more susceptible to mold than black wax? In my experience, for every 10 brown wax cylinders I have found, 7 or 8 are totally covered in thick white mold.
My apologies if some of these questions have been addressed elsewhere before, but I couldn't find relevant threads, and I would find it very helpful to have all this information in one place.
Thank you all for your help!