[78-L] Approximating 78s age by physical characteristics

[Harold Aherne]

I have some French Pathé pressings from as early as 1922 that have run-in grooves; for all I know, they may have been present as soon as Pathé began issuing outside-start discs in 1916.
In terms of American records, the earliest ones I know of with run-in grooves are some Columbias (and OKehs?) from the autumn of 1930. But in the US, run-in grooves weren't added with any regularity until a few years later: Decca by the summer of 1935, Brunswick/ARC in April/May 1936, Victor in about October 1936.
-HA

On Sun, 3/3/13, David London <jusmee123 at gmail.com> wrote:

From: David London <jusmee123 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [78-L] Approximating 78s age by physical characteristics
To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Date: Sunday, March 3, 2013, 6:34 PM

Lastly, you mention lamination returning in the early 40s to Columbia, 
and that gels with my thinking that what I call the "modern" laminated 
78, starts about the time of WW2.  The date we established earlier for 
lead-in grooves (1933) seems to confirm this, as all these modern 78s 
have lead-in grooves, but I have some Regal-Zonophone laminated 78s, 
that look modern in most respects, except they have no lead-in groove, 
and these have labels that I identified as being in used in the 1930s.  
This places them, mid 1930s when lead-in grooves a lamination must have 
just started to go mainstream.