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Edison Amberol record question
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 11:41 am
by briankeith
What is the difference between an Edison Amberol Cylinder record and an Edison "Special" Amberol cylinder record?
Re: Edison Amberol record question
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 1:25 pm
by Brad
To the best of my knowledge, the specials were offered through dealers to purchasers of 2-4 minute conversion kits. There may have been other promotions as well.
While not particularly rare, they are, are you ready???.... Special

Re: Edison Amberol record question
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 1:28 pm
by WDC
From my
Cylinder Guide:
In order to encourage phonograph owners to spend the $7.50 it was going to cost them to play the new Amberol cylinders, the Edison Company included 10 so called "free" 4-minute Amberol records with each new conversion kit. They were always the same records, and the customer was not permitted to choose 10, but had to take the series of 10, which were given the letters A-H & J & K, instead of the usual catalog number.
The series went:
- A: The Four Jacks (NY Military Band)
B: Father's Eccentricities (Murray K. Hill)
C: If I Must Say Farewell Kate, Let Me Kiss Your Lips Goodbye (Manuel Romain)
D: The Ninety and Nine (Edison Mixed Quartet)
E: Scenes that Are Brightest (H. Benne Henton)
F: Two Rubes Swapping Horses (Steve Porter and Ed Meeker)
G: Im Looking for a Sweetheart and I Think Youll Do (Ada Jones and Billy Murray)
H: Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! (Harlan & Stanley)
J: Hermit's Bell Overture (American Symphony Orchestra)
K: The Peerless Minstrels (The Peerless Quartet)
Additionally, the special series was easy to differ from the normal Amberols as they appeared in orange "Special Amberol" boxes instead of the common green Amberol boxes.
Re: Edison Amberol record question
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 2:30 pm
by Andersun
This is from a October 1, 1911 Edison Phonograph catalog....
If you purchased an attachment to play the new Amberol records, you would get 10 special Amberol records.
Re: Edison Amberol record question
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 8:23 pm
by Lenoirstreetguy
Here's a batch of them. The orange boxed specials were from a second promotion scheme. If you convinced a friend to buy an Edison you got to pick several of the records from the list . I'll look up the details. The pencils and scissors were not part of the offer.
Jim
Re: Edison Amberol record question
Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 6:41 pm
by Lenoirstreetguy
I found the blurb about the 1910 Promotion scheme. In short , if a customer convinced a buddy to buy a new Edison phonograph, he could then select six Amberols from the list of 24 Specials. These records are much less common than those that came with the conversions kits. I have seen precisely one " in the wild": it's the one in the pic I uploaded. Perhaps one reason is that the scheme was late coming to Canada because of a little contretemps the Canadian jobbers had with Canada Customs. I forget the details,but both the Company and the jobbers felt that they were being overcharged since these records were not intended to be sold. A dust up with Canada customs is a fine Canadian tradition, proving ...plus ca change... and all that.
JRT
Re: Edison Amberol record question
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 6:40 am
by rodpickett
Because the 2/4 conversion offer was successful, in October 1911 Edison also announced a set of Special Amberol cylinders with Hebrew selections, called the L - W series with the following letters: L, M, O, P, R, S, T, U, V, W
The photo is of an Edison Conversion Combo Outfit, containing the ten Special Amberols (A - K), the conversion gears and mandrel and the green-tinted Model H reproducer. The label on the lid identifies each record and the cost of the various conversion kits.
Re: Edison Amberol record question
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 9:51 am
by Andersun
rodpickett wrote:
The photo is of an Edison Conversion Combo Outfit, containing the ten Special Amberols (A - K), the conversion gears and mandrel and the green-tinted Model H reproducer. The label on the lid identifies each record and the cost of the various conversion kits.
Talking about one upping everybody on this topic..... That's crazy you have the kit like it was just mailed to you yesterday! Very cool! Where did you find that???
Re: Edison Amberol record question
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 10:45 am
by rodpickett
I found this on eBay several years ago. These cases are rare and I’m aware of a handful that exist. This one has the best lid decal that I have seen. The conversion kits were assembled for each type phonograph and lettering was stamped on the end accordingly, e.g. Home, Standard, etc.
The link below will take you to some better detailed photographs with a close-up of the lid. You can see HOME stamped on the end of the case. Also included are photos of an incomplete kit for a STANDARD and the lid decal is not nearly as fine.
https://www.dropbox.com/gallery/4204650 ... t?h=e2add2
Off topic of conversion kits, Edison apparently supplied dealers with cabinet retouching outfits, much like furniture dealers use today to fix damage and imperfections. The link below is to a retouching outfit that is about 80% complete and is the only example I’m aware of.
https://www.dropbox.com/gallery/4204650 ... g?h=a3a682
Re: Edison Amberol record question
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 2:55 am
by edisonphonoworks
That is awsome, is that straw? perhaps I should start packing cylinders in straw and have custom shipping boxes made like this! If I sold blanks packed in a wooden box, with the cardboard dividers, how much would one pay?? I hope to have a run of the round cylinder individual boxes, and I would like them a telescoping tube, like the Amberol boxes and the lid diamiter meets the outer diamiter the same. I am looking for visualy bad labels green amberol to ship my blanks i, but then I do not want to deface and originnal box. If you want cylinder boxes made
http://www.acmespiral.com/products/products.htm