Columbia Phonograph Company

Please do not confuse with Columbia Phonograph Co. (used only until 1904) Record company whose name appears only on Columbia Flag labels released between December 1923-December 1924 (and on contemporary custom pressings on the Private Record label). As a result of both the post-World War I recession and stock market manipulations by an unscrupulous financier, the Columbia Graphophone Company was forced into receivership in October 1923. The company reorganized itself as Columbia Phonograph Company. At the same time, it promoted its "New Process Records" by introducing three new catalog number series, marked with the suffixes D (Domestic), F (Foreign), and M (Masterworks), on the newly designed Flag label. This label came in several different background colors: copper (popular), silver (light classical), gold (classical), and green or blue (ethnic releases). The first issues (Dec. 1923-Jan. 1924) list the company name and patent information at the bottom of the labels in black print; starting in February 1924, the same text appears in white print. In 1925, the company name was changed once more, to Columbia Phonograph Company, Inc.