The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I picked up a horde of (mostly) 2 min cylinders last weekend and I noticed a red box Harry Lauder
selection. The only picture I can find is on G-Shane's avatar. Is this a foreign
market box? The orange one is a promo cylinder from what I learned and the indestructibles
are part of Columbia. There was also one early brown wax Columbia "Holy City" that plays ok.
The box still has the typo "Graphaphone" which is kind of neat. Most of the 200 plus I picked
up are 2 min Edison Records and Gold Moulded. Its really cool because these were given to
the seller 55 years ago and he stored them safely and un-used ever since. Its a real time capsule with
dozens of Collins and Harlan, Uncle Josh, Ada Jones, Billy Murry, etc.

Yes, the red lidded boxes were used for the British & other foriegn series Gold moulded cylinders. They were used from 1906-1912 afaik, with that particular label introduced around 1909.

gramophoneshane wrote:Yes, the red lidded boxes were used for the British & other foriegn series Gold moulded cylinders. They were used from 1906-1912 afaik, with that particular label introduced around 1909.

That's cool, thanks Shane!

Columbia didn't buy Indestructible's output until 1908. Your black Indestructible box dates from 1906/07, and the blue one from 1907/08. You'll sometimes find the blue variety with a narrow paper sticker wrapped around it with Columbia lettering.

George P.

phonogfp wrote:Columbia didn't buy Indestructible's output until 1908. Your black Indestructible box dates from 1906/07, and the blue one from 1907/08. You'll sometimes find the blue variety with a narrow paper sticker wrapped around it with Columbia lettering.

George P.

That's interesting, thanks George!

What a great find! Even all the box lids seem to be there.

Congratulations!

Clay

Guest wrote:What a great find! Even all the box lids seem to be there.

Congratulations!

Clay

Thanks Clay! I was very lucky to find these in such great shape. As far as I know they were
in one family before given to the seller 55 years ago then stored untouched until I
picked them up. Some even have personal notes on the lids such as one would write
on a Christmas or birthday gift. The original collector was really into Ada Jones Billy Murray and
"Coon"songs. Great stuff!