[78-L] Decca 23000 series

[Han Enderman]

Decca is rather confusing.
The sunburst label was used on 35 cent blue label Decca during Sep 1934 - (ca.) Jan 1938.
The last known issues (from label images) are: 
1606 (Andy Kirk 13 Dec 1937) [1607-1611 not seen; 1612 is blue block label].
5472 (Riley Puckett) [5473 Jimmie Davis 10 Dec 1937 is block].
7399 (Elsie Williams 5 Nov 1937) [7400 is block] (race series).

The blue label was also used in the 10000 Mexican & 12000 Irish series, and in the 15000 12" series.
The last blue block labels were released irregularly in 1945, but had by then been replaced 
by script labels for higher priced issues.
The 48000 R&B series, replacing all earlier race series (7000/8500/11000s)  started ca. Oct 1946 
with a script label (!).

The 50c 18000 series started in 1939 with red block labels.
The 75c 23000 series started mid 1936 (see Barr's dating guide !!), and issued Django's 1935 recordings.
It used the red block Personality label (long before the blue blocks appeared ca. Jan 1938).
The last red block label image I have is 23246.
The Personality label did not use a label type similar to the last version of the blue block label (started ca. Dec 1941), 
but then introduced the black script label, which used the same legend below the label name, however: 
"Manufactured by Decca Records .... U.S.A.". This script label was certainly used mid 1942- late 1943 
and then replaced by by the "serifed Decca" Personality label.

Decca series in the 30s/40s had fixed prices and were slowly disappearing when higher-priced series 
were started. Evidently earlier label types were retained for late issues in early series.
Ty's ODP shows an important irregularity in the 23000 series, just before the cited 23277:
23265-69 are July 1942 recordings, pres. issued 1942; 23270-74 are unknown, and
from 23275 on the records are made on 30 Aug 1943 or later (with some relation to the ban, I assume).
The orig. issues of 23277 & 23281 had script labels, but repressings and later issues in the 23000s had
serifed labels.

I have made a note (from internet), that 23265-66 by Carmen Miranda was recorded 19 May 1942 and 
released in July 1942, while Ty gives 25 July as recording date. What is correct?

han enderman
===
>>>
I'm sure the series started much earlier, since I've seen a few of the Django 
records as singles (don't have them on hand at the moment). 1937 is my guess 
for the start of the series. If they were going to put Grace Moore on a premium 
label they wouldn't have hidden them for 3 or 4 years.

As for non-consecutive numbers, Decca did that all the time when issuing albums 
compiled from earlier singles or adding one single to 3 new ones.

dl

On 5/7/2012 11:32 PM, Cary Ginell wrote:
> 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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