Sold Date: January 26, 2025
Start Date: January 12, 2025
Final Price: £18.00 (GBP)
Seller Feedback: 731
Buyer Feedback: 0

This item is not for sale. Gripsweat is an archive of past sales and auctions, none of the items are available for purchase.

From the early days of the first (and short-lived) commercial 33⅓rpm LP record era in the United States, (1931-33), this lovely artefact dates back to the early part of 1932. RCA Victor had introduced 33⅓ rpm discs of both 10" and 12" diameter, the former in shellac, the latter in a new material called Victrolac.  With much narrower grooves, the discs could hold up to half an hour of music across both sides, but this 10" is a one-sided affair, featuring both numbers ( Good Night, Sweetheart / My Sunshine Is You - RCA Victor L16003) from one of Jack Hylton's recent (late 1931) 78s for HMV in the UK.  Victor also issued a standard 12" 78 of the two numbers in the US.

These "Program Transcriptions" were not intended - as the name might suggest - for radio play but were sold to consumers who owned one of the new (and very expensive) twin-speed phonographs from Victor - see the attached US/Canadian newspaper clippings, which are NOT part of the lot, and included in this listing only for background information and interest.
The cost of the equipment, and the Great Depression, halted the progress of these revolutionary new records.  When the standard LP was introduced in 1948, the grooves - microgrooves - were much narrower.

Some of the great names of music had important recordings issued on these c1931-1933 transcription discs.  Many were classics or light opera, taking full advantage of the new format across both sides of the shellac / Vitrolac but there were around 30 of the single-sided discs which, of course, had the selling point that you could hear both sides without flipping the record over.
There's a superb website devoted to these records:
https://bsnpubs.com/rca/rca/rca33.html
As far as I can tell, Jack Hylton was one of very few UK stars issued in the early 33⅓ format, and I believe this might very well be the first commercial 33⅓rpm record ever issued anywhere in the world by a British popular music act (though there were British performers on some earlier classical and operatic 33⅓rpm releases from Victor).

In any event, it's a super and historic artefact.

Important note for casual browsers:  while the record spins at 33⅓, and can be played with a standard stylus, it really needs a more specialised, closer-to-78 stylus, owing to the size of the grooves. So unless your interest in this piece is simply as an artefact, to avoid disappointment, please bid only if you're confident you have access to suitable equipment

The Condition Description and pictures aim to give an accurate portrayal of the disc's condition, so please do check those out.
The record is housed in a good-quality plain archival jacket.

For transit, it will be carefully sealed between two layers of card, in a strong new  LP mailing envelope.

Postage is free of charge to the winning bidder within the UK but bids are also welcome under the eBay Global Shipping Programme (for overseas sales, eBay will add the cost of shipping from UK to international destinations).

Thanks for looking and good luck if you decide to bid.