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Beltona

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Beltona records were produced for the Murdoch Trading company of 59-61 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1.

The first Beltona records appeared just after the first world war and were made by Crystalate. This style was short-lived (probably only a few months) and copies are rare. (I have no example of this label, myself, but I have Don Taylor includes a monochrome photograph in his book, and I include it here to show the design).
The catalogue numbers were in a 100 series

It was 1922 before the label was revived and the pressings were taken on by Vocalion and they used their usual masters from their own recordings and from American Gennett and Vocalion. The familiar design (see second picture) was used, though initially the colours were red and buff rather than turquoise and light turquoise. There was also a 6" disc called Beltona Bairns produced by Vocalion at this time; again I've never seen one, the monochrome picture here is again from Dom Taylor's book.

In 1927, the label design changed to the black and white design shown here and soon after this, Edison Bell started providing the masters as Vocalion ceased any 10" recordings. By the following year, Beltona seemed to stop issuing dance music, though in the early 1930s, a few sessions of local dance bands were recorded. The label concentrated on Scottish and Irish music for the rest of its life and ceased to exist in the late 1950s.

The catalogue numbers started at 101 (for popular records) and reached about 1250 before the design change and Edison took over from about 1300. The label generally shows the correct matrix number, even though the original matrix has been expunged from the disc on many of the American matrices. The Bairns records used a 3-digit series of numbering.

Beltona-1.jpg (49285 bytes)


Beltona Bairns.jpg (85013 bytes)

Beltona-3.jpg (60469 bytes)