Edison Gold Moulded Records

Gold Moulded Records was a sub-label of Edison Records launched in February, 1902 to market new cylinder records of hard black wax that could be replayed hundreds of times. These replaced earlier Brown Wax cylinders, and many titles were either re-recorded and/or re-numbered for issue on the new format. While sturdy, these cylinders had only two minutes of playing time. Designations of Edison two minute black wax cylinders changed over time between 1902-1912, and these name variations appear on cylinder boxes. The term "Gold Moulded" first appeared in November 1903 and is found on cylinder boxes and catalogs until June 1908. At that time, 2 minute cylinder boxes were labeled simply "Edison Records" because a new method of record production had replaced the Gold-Moulding process. Therefore, Edison two minute cylinders sold from June 1908 (catalog # 9842) onwards should be listed under Edison Standard Record, because they were not Gold Moulded Records. When new 4-minute Edison Amberol Records were introduced in October, 1908, the older cylinders were called "Edison Two-Minute Records", although this name doesn't appear on any cylinder boxes. By December, 1908 they were called "Edison Standard Records", and this is the name that persisted on cylinder boxes until production of two minute black wax cylinders ended. In 1912 they were discontinued in favor of Edison Blue Amberol Records, which featured more durable celluloid cylinders with four minutes playing time. A word about cylinder markings: The earliest Gold Moulded cylinders had rounded ends that lacked identifying markings, other than a faint handwritten catalog number and a small facsimile of Edison's signature before the groove. In August 1904, beveled-edged cylinders were introduced with the title, catalog number and performance type moulded into the rim. For all cylinders up to catalog # 8748 that contain recordings made prior to early 1904, first pressings are on unmarked flat-end cylinders. Labeled beveled-edged cylinders of these releases are repressings. This gets complicated though, because Edison re-made many early titles after August 1904 and issued these on cylinders with the same catalog numbers as earlier versions. Therefore, it is possible to have records numbered lower than # 8748 that have end labels but are not repressings because they contain a remade version of the recording. [u]Alternate (foreign) names[/u]: - [I]Cylindres Edison Moulés Sur Or[/I] (in France and Quebec) - [I]Edison Goldguss Walze[/I] (in Germany and Austro-Hungary) - [I]Edison Records in Chinese[/I] (in China)