Commemorating the 1,000,000,000th RCA Victor Record! (45 rpm)

Met a fellow at a garage sale 9/25/10, and when I asked if he had records, We walked next door to his his place and he told me his father worked for RCA in Indianapolis for 30+ years, and that he had some pretty rare stuff.....that wasn't for sale. He then showed me a box of 45's, maybe 40 total, mostly cardboard sleeved 45's like the 200 I just sold off a few months ago. But I saw two things in the box that caught my eye, and when he said "$2.00 for the box", I took them.

The first item was the Elvis sleeve, which you can see in the vid.

The second was this "Commemorating the one billionth RCA Victor record", and has the dates August 5, 1939 to October 3, 1961, and says "Pressed at the Indianapolis Factory.

One side of the record says "Oldest RCA Victor "Master Record", recorded January 21, 1901, Camden N.J. Re-recorded at 45 RPM from the original recording D6CC6167

It then says "Hall & Stuart "Tell Me PRetty Maiden" from Floradora , Vess Ossman, Banjo Solo.


The other side says "The One Billionth Record Pressed in the Indianapolis Factory, Oct 3 , 1961 45 RPM New Orthophonic High Fidelity Producer: Chet Atkins M2WW-0883 "One Grain of Sand" (Rosella LaRue), And features the recreated signature of Eddy Arnold.


Now I dont know how many of these were made for RCA employees or execs. I cant find much info about it at all. I do know that I like unique stuff like this, and its well worth the $2.00 I paid

Now, The entire back side of the sleeve: ANOTHER BILLION RECORDS! This is an achievement only RCA Victor can acclaim! It is an accomplishment proper and fitting for the largest record manufacturer in the world. From the very first record made by the Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden,m New Jersey in 1901, to this record commemorating the 1,000,000,000th record pressed in the Indianapolis Factory, Victor has passed many milestones. Playing speeds have passed from 78rpm to 45 and 33 1/3 rpm. Phonographs have passed from hand-wound with horn to the record changer stereophonic.Even production has passed from the one billionth to another billionth. Making a billion records was first accomplished by the RCA Victor Camden Factory in 1946. Now it has been accomplished by the much newer and younger Indianapolis factory. To Commemorate this memorable event, The enclosed record has been specially prepared. Whenever it is played, It is to sound the toast to each and every person who has helped in achieving this outstanding success. And to guarantee the perfect foundation for the NEXT BILLION, a copy has been made for every person who is participating in celebrating the production of the first billion records in Indianapolis.

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[legOldtimer]

Fantastic! But please don't play the record on that player again...

Use a real Hi-Fi record-player with not more then 2 gr. force.

Thanks for posting.

[78Revolutions]

@legOldtimer Something went wrong with the webcor that same afternoon, so it seems I wont be using it at all for a while. I have a proper set to play the nice stuff on, but its not in a good place for me to record, nor does the sound record well, so I usually use my vintage stuff. But you are right, since this one seems all but unplayed, Ill try to preserve it a bit better and watch where i play it. I dont have a way to measure pressure though. .

[OldMusicOnVinyl1]

Fantastic! You must be lucky to own this rarity in factory-fresh condition.

[78Revolutions]

@OldMusicOnVinyl1 You know, Its probably only the second time I've ever bought a record at a garage sale. Usually I dont find any, or its all christian music, or the people want $5 each for stuff worth 10 cents. So this was a nice way to remind myself "it IS worth stopping and asking, cause sometimes you strike gold".

[JeremyPassarelli]

Very Neat! This has to be rare!

[78Revolutions]

@JeremyPassarelli Yeah, Id have to think so too. I just wish it was super valuable, which it probably isnt. Maybe $10 or something. not even sure.

[KawhackitaRag]

[...] Despite the last-ditch effort of the early record collectors, it is quite likely that a large number of early unissued performances perished in this explosion.

Colossally stupid and unconscionable acts such as this remind us why it's important to preserve our musical heritage, and never ASSUME that something still exists, or is in the right hands if it does.

Columbia's sale of many of their early metal masters for scrap metal in the 1950s is another example of what NOT to do!

[KawhackitaRag]

[...] They let several record collectors go through the building before the explosion and take out whatever they could carry (it's not clear to me whether they were allowed to make multiple trips, or where these surviving masters are today), and then blew up the whole thing, bulldozed the rubble into the river, and built a shipping dock on top of the ruins. [...]

[KawhackitaRag]

This is why it is so important to save the original masters for records. Unfortunately, RCA Victor dynamited an entire warehouse full of early metal masters in Camden, NJ, sometime in the 1960s (I believe). [...]

[KawhackitaRag]

Make no mistake, records from these years (pre-1910, and especially pre-1905) are EXTREMELY hard to find today, so to be able to hear this recording in such nearly pristine sound quality is, frankly, amazing! The piano accompaniment comes through loud and clear, and actually sounds like a piano! [the unnamed accompanist could be Christopher H. H. Booth, or Frank P. Banta].

[KawhackitaRag]

The older master recording on this 45 record might (I am not sure, but it is likely) be derived Victor record 3049, which is a banjo solo by Vess L. Ossman, with uncredited piano accompaniment, of "Tell Me, Pretty Maiden", a song selection from the extremely popular operetta "Florodora", composed by Leslie Stuart. According to the aforementioned online discography, this was indeed probably recorded on January 21, 1901, pre-matrix number B-3049. (Ossman also recorded the tune again a year later).

[KawhackitaRag]

Probably the earliest Victor record, is record number A-1, "Departure", a recitation by George Broderick (not music). This was recorded circa June 28, 1900, according to the Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings.

At least one copy of this record exists and can be seen and heard on the youtube channel of MusicBoxBoy, under the title:

"Departure" Historic 1900 Victor Talking Machine Recording George Broderick on IMPROVED RECORD label"

[frenchmarky]

Very cool, a 109-year-old master recorded onto a 45 single, don't see that every day!

[djfmitv]

The older master recording wasn't originally an RCA Victor track - it was from the Victor Talking Machine Company, Camden, New Jersey, passed over to RCA when they took over the company in 1929, so in fact is just a "Victor" label pressing. The oldest truly "RCA Victor" master disc would have been made in 1929. Probably not an important fact, but the disc was still made in the acoustic era, in which a radio corporation wouldn't have existed - so RCA calling it RCA Victor is a self-professed gag

[sideshowtink]

That billionth RCA record is a gem! FABULOUS! I just love that!

[aldiakaroofus]

Neat!