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MMD > Archives > June 2003 > 2003.06.22 > 04Prev  Next


"Master Music Roll" & Music Dealer's Piano Rolls
By Julian Dyer

The vast majority of rolls carrying the name or brand of a music
dealer in the UK were manufactured by the Perforated Music Roll
Company, in the City Road, London.

Their own brand was Imperial, and they offered a custom roll
manufacturing facility that seems to have been taken up by a lot of
piano dealers.  The custom rolls were the same actual product as
Imperial, but presented differently and with different serial numbers.

(In a bold piece of intellectual property fraud they used Aeolian's
roll numbers on these rolls, thereby saving themselves the cost of
printing their own catalogue!).

Giveaway features include separate leaders with a scalloped leading
edge to the paper, and 'Accentist' stamped on the rear of the leader of
themed rolls.  The company publicity gave quite a lot of details of the
factory and way of working.  However, things came to a disastrous end
when the factory burnt down in 1919, destroying all the masters.

Other possibilities, but less likely, are that the rolls were made
by Aeolian, who would label their 'Universal' rolls for others,
maintaining the original serial number (Harrods and Broadwood used
this service).

Kastners in London did have a roll factory, but the vast majority of
their branded rolls were made by others, mostly Aeolian but with a
surprising diversity, so I doubt they did custom rolls for others.

American and Continental rolls are sometimes seen rebranded, inevitably
by Kastner, but simply using standard production with stickers covering
the original name.

Collectors usually can tell at a glance who made a roll, taking in
various small details of their construction.  It's hard to do at a
distance!  One detail that might help is the serial number from one
or two roll labels.

Julian Dyer


(Message sent Sun 22 Jun 2003, 12:54:40 GMT, from time zone GMT+0100.)

Key Words in Subject:  Dealer's, Master, Music, Piano, Roll, Rolls

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