[78-L] Victor "E" in runout

[J. E. Knox]

Greetings from FixitLand!

On 8 Jan 2013, at 2:48 PM, Bryan Wright wrote:

> For several years, I've been puzzled by a large capital "E" in the  
> runout of some Victor records from the mid-late 1920s. I'm not talking  
> about the "VE" oval, but rather a standalone "E" sometimes stamped  
> directly below the "VE" bug. Today, I took some Victor records in my  
> own collection bearing that "E" and looked them up in the UCSB online  
> Victor discography. I noticed that the original file cards for all of  
> them carried some indication that the records were marketed "for  
> educational use." Aha! Could it be that the "E" in the runout  
> designates a record intended for educational use? Since I presume the  
> "VE" oval was stamped to indicate an electric recording for purposes  
> of royalty payments to Western Electric, perhaps Victor and Western  
> Electric had an agreement for discounted royalties on records made for  
> educational use? And perhaps the extra "E" was Victor's way of marking  
> the "educational" records? Can anyone confirm my theory? And if I'm  
> wrong, does anyone know what the "E" *does* indicate?

Yep...intended for the Educational Catalog. You nailed it. I dunno if anything but Black Label material was so-included. Anyone seen a Red Seal or other non-pop-series Victor with the 'E'?

Take care,



—
Joe
—
“The only escape from the miseries of life are music and cats...”—Albert Schweitzer