About HMV 78 rpm records --- Electrical and Acoustical recordings

In the Albert Coates thread, Rolf, posting as, "Otterhouse", mentioned his ownership of acoustically recorded HMV D label 78's. Acoustically recorded orange DB recordings were also marketed, although due to their deletion in the immediate years following the introduction of electrical recordings fewer of them survived. For example one recording that comes to mind is DB 257 presenting 2 recordings of GalliCurci that were originally issued as single sided 78's by HMV. The earliest of the DB series were all combinations of earlier released single sided records. The acoustical D series were, in the main, new recordings recorded after World War 1 had ended.

The CHARM site maintained by King's College in London, includes pictures of the labels that have been digitised, and in itself is a useful source of historical information deserving a thread on this forum.

The inclusion of the matrix numbers assigned to both the HMV and Columbia recordings available for listening to on the CHARM site is also valuable.  This information permits the determination of what recording equipment was used in making the recordings, both electrical and acoustical.   Irvine Shamrock