[78-L] Decca 23000 series

[Cary Ginell]

I have Decca 78 rpm album A-207, by the Quintet of the Hot Club of France. It includes disc no. 23002, which is close enough to the beginning of the series. The booklet for the set was printed in 1941, so that would be my guess as to when the series started. The discs in my particular set, however, are not original pressings. The first three discs also have the familiar post-war brown colored label with the script "Decca," but 23021 has the early '50s block design, which tells me the set stayed in print for at least eight years
. 
What's of particular interest for this set was that the first three discs are consecutively numbered (23002, 23003, 23004, but the fourth disc is 23021.)
 
I have an earlier pressing of 23002 that shows the artist to be listed as STEPHANE GRAPPELLY and his Hot Four with Django Reinhardt. This copy has the maroon color and old-style block printing of Decca, which I believe was how the series was originally issued. I have three other Grappelly Deccas with the same label, coloring, and font - nos. 23021, 23031, & 23032. 

But to answer your question, I don't think I've ever seen the maroon colored issues of the Personality Series with either the sunburst or the script design. If the series started in 1941, that would negate the possibility of the sunburst design anyway, since that ended in 1937.

Cary Ginell


On May 7, 2012, at 6:29 PM, Harold Aherne wrote:

> Does anyone know when Deccca's 23000 "Personality" series was inaugurated? The first
> issue (by Grace Moore) was recorded in March 1936 but I'm not certain when it was actually
> made available.
>  
> If the 23000 block was indeed inaugurated in 1936, did it ever use the sunburst design? On
> early Personality discs I've only ever seen the block-letter style (on a wine-coloured background
> as in the 18000s, with "Personality Series" under the label name). By 23277 (recorded in 
> September 1943) the familiar serif-style Decca logo was in use, but there had been another
> briefly-used variation--the script Decca label with "Personality Series" in small letters above
> the label name. Was the serif-style used before the fall of '43?
>  
> -HA
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