EXTRA ARTICLES

Old Gramophone Societies: Hawick and Wilton (Roxburghshire)
This society began meetings in October 1920. They met fortnightly until closing for the season on March 21st 1921 with a concert of HMV and the new Vocalion records.
The Vocalions included A0118 Rosing Song of the Flea, C01005 George Baker Tempest of the Heart, C01002 Destournel Bonnie Mary of Argyle, A0144 D'Alvarez Habanera, J04007 Aeolian Orchestra Marche Hongroise, A0116 Caroline Hatchard Sweet Bird, J04011 Aeolian Orchestra Magic Flute Overture. "Special mention may be made of Rosing's realistic rendering of the Song of the Flea."
HMV records were by Alma Gluck (03467), Thorpe Bates (C441), Galli-Curci (2-053142), Peter Dawson (C459), John McCormack (02246) Walter Hyde (D107) as well as Zonophone A60 and A61 the complete William Tell Overture. "Galli-Curci was outstanding... this is a most marvellous record," wrote Mr R Riddell secretary, "the coloratura singing and the delicate shading of the voice of this famous soprano being hear to great advantage"- perhaps he was slightly biased as it was his own record!
Rather incongruously, somewhere among all this classical entertainment, the late Billy Williams "sustained the humorous element in his inimitable way."

FAQ's about 78's
The answers below are entirely my own, and are not guaranteed to be accurate!
WHAT ARE 78'S MADE OF?
Well, apart from chocolate, which a very few early examples were made of, along with other experimental materials, the most commonly used material was shellac. This was the breakable material that refused to stick together properly with glue if you ever tried to mend the broken pieces! Vinyl only came in in Britain in the late 1950's, so to describe earlier 78's as Vinyl is incorrect. Also incorrect is the term bakelite.
A number of companies experimented with other materials such as card (Nicole in the early part of the 1900's, Duophone in the late 1920's, and Durium in the early 1930's), and various forms of plastic were tried out in the late 20's, but if you find Filmophone 78's today they are invariably curled up, and the use of a heavy tone arm on such delicate records was a recipe for disaster.

WHAT IS THE MOST VALUABLE 78?
Not yours is probably the simplest answer. A lot of people still overestimate the value of 78's which were mostly manufactured in their thousands. If you want a laugh, you can usually find someone on eBay asking a comically inflated price. Occasionally they seem to get a nice high bid, so sometimes they can get the last laugh!
Certainly, though not a true 78 rpm record, the furore that recently accompanied the playing of an early attempt to produce sound waves, that was played on Radio 4's Today programme, maybe masked the fact that this unique example that predated even Edison's Mary had a Little Lamb, was of great historic interest. But as regards greatest value, maybe a private recording by Elvis would fetch the largest cash, or, as opera collectors are invariably rolling in money, a rare operatic recording made in Russia at the turn of the last century.

HOW DO YOU CATALOGUE YOUR COLLECTION?
Scrappy pieces of paper stored in an old box in alphabetical order used to be the order of the day. When the children starting playing around, the box would inevitably get knocked over and it would take months trying to put the pieces back into some kind of order.
Nowadays, a computer database is a godsend. It does depend into how much detail you want to go, but I like to list the artist, then the title(s), the record number, and a note regarding condition, in case I later find another copy for sale, and need to know if it's better than my present record.

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