[78-L] Spanish 33 1/3 shellack LPs from 1933

[Inigo Cubillo]

This morning I’ve found (and purchased) something I’d never seen before and I suspect will never find again: two of the four spanish shellack LPs from 1933. These were recorded by spanish Columbia of San Sebastian (Basque Country). From bibliography I’ve known that at least four of these were recorded and issued early in 1933 (Regal RKY-10001 to 10004) albeit with little commercial success. Nevertheless, they still were in the catalogue in December 1935, when the spanish branch of Columbia had been liquidated and then re-founded as an independent company, losing its ties with US and UK Columbia. These records were relabeled/renumbered as Columbia RGLD-10000 to 10003. In the May 1942 Columbia catalogue they also appear, but not later, and not anymore until the advent of the vinyl microgroove LP in 1948 (1953 in Spain). They must be very scarce, as in 40 years collecting, they are the first examples I’ve seen, and in Spain it is easy to find many pressings of various of the spanish Columbia products from these years.