After fifty-four years of Welte-Mignon beguilement now comes Ampico
entrancement! (But, with not a fraction of a degree of that original
fire of most passionate interest for the first, having lessened!)

Only a few days ago a packet of newly-acquired Ampico graphical
materials arrived here. Among the assortment (which I'd thought
originally as having been of all AMICA reproductions or others)
was included a thin-paper two page folder trumpeting grandly,
"The Gold Seal Library of Ampico Recordings"!

Upon close inspection it revealed itself to be not an exquisite
reproduction made compliments say, of The AMICA itself but rather,
an old original. The gold imprinting was fine and not tarnished or
rubbed; the paper of a high original quality and not in the least
seeming as degraded. What a little treasure but, what was it?

And so, I determined to find out all about this new-to-myself
discovery. It turns out that very little was to be revealed by
a Google search, other than a consistently appearing reference to
an AMICA Bulletin issue dated March 1980 (Ref. 1). Went there and
saw but, nothing about this newer subject of focus was to be found.
Rats!

As usual though, having had yet another treasure-trove of information
compliments of The Bulletin put before me, I went to work perusing it
all. It was but only a slow reading-scroll downward to the bottom of
the last page and then -- lo-and-behold -- there 'twas! Compliments
of Seattle's late and truly lamented Frank Adams it was to be found,
within one of his ads at very last/bottom, seen as referencing my quest
and reading exactly:

(K) Four PAGE brochure "The Gold Seal Library of Ampico Recordings. --
$15.00

Sure, it did not reveal much detail about the subject but at least
it was something better than nothing and proving me not delusional in
some way.

Also, just in case for expected more, I went to the intense, deep
treatment studies that have appeared in The Bulletin regarding Ampico
labels and numbers as accorded to era, searching for references to
this one but, as far as I was able to find, as relating to any of
such a series, there was naught found present!

Having observed over the decades variously with mine own eyes, Ampico
labels within friends' collections imprinted onto frosted gold paper,
I knew for a fact they did exist but, as-yet why then no featured
article or even reference to them? (A month now of scanning eBay pages
for Ampico rolls, has rendered not one gold type out of very many
hundreds! Merte!)

Further close study here reveals that, the "Library" consisted of
nothing actually new, other than the new paper type used for imprinting
and, it's exquisite announcement for it.

By means of the use of a strong magnifier, all of the original
label types can be made-out, but only barely. These consisted of
"The Favorite Fifty" ones plus various other later ordinary types
but, as far as I could determine in this way, there had been no
textual/graphical changes made to any. Also, the pretty slim thing
itself reveals no dating whatever which might, if it had, provided
further clues.

Having now arrived at this wall of seeming bare existence, I am
positive that further inspection of those oh-so-rare Ampico Magazines,
surely will serve to reveal to us more information and finally, crack
the elusive Ampican Nut fully wide-open.

I have included the original seller's really awful photo of the
creature (Ref. 2), plus my own arranged stack as done for fun (Ref. 3),
of Gold Seal Library styles of fantasy labels, ones which I'd created
for an envisioned project intended d'apres completion of my ultra-high-
speed line punch. An essay-proof of one also I've included, it to be
found at (Ref. 4).

Indeedy! When it comes to the Reproducing Piano in all of it's
multitudinous forms -- sizes, shapes, styles and art, the personalities
that made the business plus and most importantly, the artists and their
music involved -- there is always something new to be discovered and
explored. The whole of it is endless and wondrous past-all-doubt!

Jim Miller
Las Vegas, Nevada

 [   Ref. 1: AMICA Bulletin issue dated March 1980.
 [ https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid:hj557by5566/17-02.pdf 
 [   Ref. 2
 [ https://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/21/02/03/210203_142332_AMPICOgoldsealBrochure.jpg 
 [   Ref. 3
 [ https://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/21/02/03/210203_142332_AmpicoGoldSealLibraryStack.png 
 [   Ref. 4
 [ https://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/21/02/03/210203_142332_Ampico_Gold_LABEL_proof.png