[78-L] Harvesting the Coral label

[Harold Aherne]

I have a few questions about this Decca subsidiary, and some of the subject matter
might veer into the microgroove era, but I suppose there are more off-topic 
things that have been discussed here.<grin>
 
As far as I can tell, there were four label types:
 
The first label was quite plain; "Coral" was in a tall sans-serif font and I 
don’t recall any real decoration. The second label (introduced around 1951?) 
used a serif font for “Coral” and had a tilted abstract record behind the “R”. 
The third label (introduced in 1954 or 55, I think) used a thick, wide, serif font 
arched over a sunrise motif (which was absent on 45s). The last design 
(used from 1963 or 64 to the label’s retirement) resembled the Decca rainbow 
pattern used at the same time, although with different colours and a concave 
shape. The second and fourth designs can be seen at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_Records. 
 
Does anyone know exactly when the first Corals were issued? Some sources
give 1949 for the year of introduction, but William R. Daniels's dating guide 
gives November 1948 as the first month of release.
 
I've never been quite clear when Coral issues stopped. The GlobalDog listings
for Coral singles (which are linked at the bottom of the above Wikipedia article)
end in 1970, by which time there was just of trickle of releases on the label, and it
was probably a redundancy within the MCA group. Still, MCA sometimes 
used the Coral name on LPs, usually with vintage material. More than
that, I don't really know.
 
-Harold