Standard Disc Record. Standard Talking Machine Co., Chicago, Ill. 1905-1917. Standard was pressed by Columbia and is likely the best selling of the non-standard spindle hole sized records. The larger spindle hole (and in some cases, like Busy-Bee, a lug in addition to the spindle hole) was a marketing scheme to sell records. Machines with odd sized spindle holes were often sold cheaply or even given away but people were forced to purchase only the records that fit that machine. The records were where the profits were. The first two examples here are single sided. The last three are double sided. In the first example note the green sticker. It says "Copyrighted Record Additional 2c." This was a result of the copyright act of 1909. This added 2 cents to the price of the record and the copyright owner was paid 2c for every record sold. It also assured buyers they were getting the latest hits rather than some old public domain song.
Supreme. 1925-29. This is one of the Grey Gull brands.
Symphonola. 1919-22. Originally produced by Emerson for Larkin Company of Buffalo, NY, which this is an example. This is a 9" record, which dates it either 1919 or 1920, when they went to 10" records.
Labels compiled from the collection of Glenn Longwell. Page last updated on November 14, 2010.
Please email if you have questions, corrections or comments on anything you see. Thanks.
