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Rarest BA's
Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2025 1:19 pm
by paradroid1793
Is "Let Us Not Forget" the rarest BA or are there other crazy ones I should be on the lookout for? (excluding purple Amberols)
Re: Rarest BA's
Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2025 1:48 pm
by JerryVan
paradroid1793 wrote: Thu Nov 13, 2025 1:19 pm
Is "Let Us Not Forget" the rarest BA or are there other crazy ones I should be on the lookout for? (excluding purple Amberols)
I would guess that "LUNF" isn't even close. The highest priced BA's I've seen were some of the very last issued, with numbers above 5700, if I recall. They've sold for thousands. There were
very few made & sold.
Re: Rarest BA's
Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2025 7:16 pm
by paradroid1793
From my digging in search it seems BA's in the 5700 series were pressed in orders of 100 to as low as 25. This was apparently after 800 orders per record in 1926 (summer). Why even press BA's at that point?
Also numbers from 5721-5732 (excl. 5720) are claimed to have been "reserved" but not issued. Where does this info come from?
Thanks.
Sam
Re: Rarest BA's
Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2025 8:55 pm
by 52089
paradroid1793 wrote: Thu Nov 13, 2025 7:16 pm
From my digging in search it seems BA's in the 5700 series were pressed in orders of 100 to as low as 25. This was apparently after 800 orders per record in 1926 (summer). Why even press BA's at that point?
Also numbers from 5721-5732 (excl. 5720) are claimed to have been "reserved" but not issued. Where does this info come from?
Thanks.
Sam
I'm sure your info comes from Ron Dethlefson's Blue Amberol books. Yes, with quantities that small, Edison realistically should have given up on cylinders long before 1929.
The highest issued number was 5719, of which 25 copies were pressed, but I have never seen one. (I have seen most of the 5700s in person.) The higher numbers up to 5732 were assigned for planned releases, but since the business folded, none of these were ever pressed. This is also from Ron's research.
Re: Rarest BA's
Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2025 10:18 pm
by Marc Hildebrant
Highest number of a Blue Amberola I have is 5693.
Close to 5700...
Marc
Re: Rarest BA's
Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2025 8:31 am
by paradroid1793
52089 wrote: Thu Nov 13, 2025 8:55 pm
paradroid1793 wrote: Thu Nov 13, 2025 7:16 pm
From my digging in search it seems BA's in the 5700 series were pressed in orders of 100 to as low as 25. This was apparently after 800 orders per record in 1926 (summer). Why even press BA's at that point?
Also numbers from 5721-5732 (excl. 5720) are claimed to have been "reserved" but not issued. Where does this info come from?
Thanks.
Sam
I'm sure your info comes from Ron Dethlefson's Blue Amberol books. Yes, with quantities that small, Edison realistically should have given up on cylinders long before 1929.
The highest issued number was 5719, of which 25 copies were pressed, but I have never seen one. (I have seen most of the 5700s in person.) The higher numbers up to 5732 were assigned for planned releases, but since the business folded, none of these were ever pressed. This is also from Ron's research.
What's the last catalog of BA's/catalog published by Edison? The latest I could find was from 1924.
Re: Rarest BA's
Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2025 9:40 am
by Rick E
With respect to the last Edison Amberol catalog, I wrote about a mailing from March 21, 1929 in the Antique Phonograph News, Spring 2023, of the Canadian Antique Phonograph Society (CAPS). Among the 12 pieces of literature in the mailing envelope, there is "The Golden Treasury of Edison Blue Amberol Records, First Edition", from 1927, and the "Latest Edison Amberol Records", Form 5229 for May 1929. The highest number Blue Amberol listed is 5707. Was this the last Bulletin?
Re: Rarest BA's
Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2025 9:00 am
by EdiBrunsVic
Very interesting! Thanks for the information.