[78-L] Victor number puzzlement

[J. E. Knox]

Greetings from FixitLand!

David Lennick:

> The RCA Victor Request Catalog (1951) has a price list at the back  
> and it lists
> a couple of numbering series I've never seen before..30000 and up  
> (ten-inch
> purple label) and 37000 and up (10 inch purple label). Qu'est'ce  
> que c'est?
> Also, it lists the post 1942 ten-inch popular black label series as  
> "20-1400
> and up". Thought it started at 20-1500. Did they go back and use  
> some lower
> numbers for a special series at one point?


Han Enderman:

> ...I have never seen a US 20-series below 20-1500...

The 20-xxxx series did start circa October-November 1942 at 20-1500  
(first four numbers are "Bunny Berigan Memorial Album" P-134). But by  
1951, there were a few special "Re-Issued By Request" issues numbered  
just under that catalog number (most common one is 20-1495, a reissue  
of Glenn Miller's two-part "Anvil Chorus"). That would explain the  
"20-1400 and up" catalog notation.

I seem to recall seeing a postwar purple-label RCA Victor pressing of  
a 30000-series 78, but can't be sure.

Take care,


Joe
—
“I am not a friend and I am not a servant. I am the cat who walks by  
himself, and I wish to come into your cave.”—Rudyard Kipling