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i know these cylinders were for promotional perposes only but i was wondering how rare/valuble they are? i might be buying one
it is "ninety and nine" by the edison mixed quartet
Alex

kirtley2012 wrote:i know these cylinders were for promotional perposes only but i was wondering how rare/valuble they are? i might be buying one
it is "ninety and nine" by the edison mixed quartet
Alex

I think you're mixing two different things up. The "Special" series A though K (blue boxes) are pretty common as they were given away free or very cheaply with every Edison 2-and-4 minute conversion kit. The wax Amberol versions are harder to find than the Blue Amberols, but the titles are the same in both series. "The Ninety and Nine" is "Special D" in both series.

The "D" series wax Amberols (orange boxes) are a different story. These were never sold, they were only given away when a customer referred someone to a dealer and a sale resulted. There were 24 titles (D-1 through D-24). Customers were allowed to pick any 6 in exchange for a successful referral. These are much harder to find and a complete set is darn near impossible. "The Ninety and Nine" is not included in this series.

Oh, and BTW, there was also a "Hebrew" series of Specials L through W. Some titles were the same as the "regular" special series, others weren't. These are also hard to find.

Keep an eye out for Special A (Four Jacks March) as it is an unusually loud cylinder that will give any reproducer a good workout!

52089 wrote: Keep an eye out for Special A (Four Jacks March) as it is an unusually loud cylinder that will give any reproducer a good workout!

And here it is:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkEdXj87Gq0[/youtube]

I just received a full set of these from an ebay purchase along with the original wood box. I must agree that the "A" cylinder is quite loud. The cylinders were in excellent shape and so the sound quality is as good as I can expect. The point is that "A" Four Jacks March is loud and crystal clear. I loved it, as far as marches go.

The early Blue Amberols can be very loud and clear because they were recorded live, rather than dubbed from a Diamond Disc.