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Bluebird label: When does color switch from black to blue?   


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  12th Jan 2018, 1:14 AM#1  REPORT  
xiphophilos

Member since Dec 2013
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I wonder if anyone can tell me when the Bluebird 3-dog label switches from black to blue (if I am even correct in assuming that black is the original color).

Examples:
http://www.45worlds.com/78rpm/record/b10214us


  12th Jan 2018, 1:28 PM#2  REPORT  
Jock_Girl

A girl who looks good in vinyl
Member since Dec 2012
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It would have happened in conjunction with changes to RCA Victor itself. This page http://majesticrecord.com/labelsvictor.htm may offer some clues

Amy



  12th Jan 2018, 5:11 PM#3  REPORT  
xiphophilos

Member since Dec 2013
3351 Points
Moderator
I had already checked this out in M.W. Sherman, A Collector's Guide to Victor Records, which does talk briefly about subsidiary labels like Bluebird (pages 158-160), but happens to show only bluish labels and doesn't raise the color question at all. The Bluebird label only existed in the US till 1945, and there's no equivalent color change on the Victor labels before that date.

Glenn Longwell shows five Bluebird labels as well (http://majesticrecord.com/labelsb2.htm), where you can see the switch in color, but gives no dates.

On our site, fixbutte clearly outlines the series of labels in a comment on Bluebird 6992, but without mentioning the color changes.

The most detailed discussion I have found online is "Label Types of Bluebird Records (with particular reference to differences in Canadian and American issues) by Colin J. Bray and Jack Litchfield, unfortunately reprinted without illustrations and again not discussing my color question.

There is also a good, detailed summary on Stefan Wirz' Bluebird page, which quotes both the Bray and Litchfield article and fixbutte's comment. This one has lots of illustrations, but again fails to mention the color shift. Based on what I see there, I almost suspect that Bluebird's labels in the late 1930s and early 1940s simultaneously exhibited wide varieties in color, from Royal Blue to Navy Blue to Black.

Edited by xiphophilos on 12th Jan 2018, 6:05 PM

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