[78-L] Free Records!!!

[Michael Biel]

Oh, there is one catch however.  Those free records were offered in
1912, so I guess we're a little over 100 years too late.  BUT it is the
start of an answer to a quandary we have discussed here many times --
why are there so many copies of the $6.00 Rigoletto Quartette and $7.00
Lucia Sextette.  I had suggested that the Victor dealers would give
purchasers of new Victor machines an album of records of their choice,
and of course they would start out with the most expensive records. 
Nobody has yet mentioned any confirmation of this unadvertised practice.

I bought Ryan Barna's reprints of The Columbia Record last week, and see
that in 1912 Columbia advertised just such a practice, and in doing so
they needled Victor just a bit.  Reprinted in the March 1912 issue is
Columbia's April 6 Saturday Evening Post ad which offers an album of 12
double-disc records (24 selections) with a $59 "Favorite" model
Grafonola.  "The 24 selections on the 12 double-disc records include the
famous 'Rigoletto' Quartette and also the splendid 'Lucia' Sextette, for
which two selections alone many talking machine owners have had to pay
$13.  Or your own selection of records to the same value will be
supplied. (Record album extra, 10-inch, $1.50; 12-inch, $1.75.)"  The
catch is that the Columbia version of these two selections do not have
Caruso, are contained on one record A-5177 at $7.50, and the 1914
Columbia record catalog shows this model phonograph at $50, not $59!

However, this might have led Victor dealers to follow Columbia's example
despite it seemingly being in violation of Victors price guidelines.

Mike Biel   mbiel at mbiel.com