"Two Rubes Swapping Horses"<br /><br />Steve Porter & Edward Meeker<br /><br />Edison Blue Amberol Special F<br /><br />1913<br /><br />For a year or so, the Edison company sold "special" cylinders with letters--like this one, given the letter F--at a low price. <br /><br />These special, low-cost cylinders have the letters A through K. <br /><br />They are Amberol wax cylinders for customers who purchased a 4 minute conversion kit for their older 2 minute only cylinder phonographs. <br /><br />It was a way to wean customers from an older system--and guide them to a new system that allows for cylinders with longer performances (but such cylinders require different playback technology).<br /><br />The titles were originally released in 1910 as 4 minute wax records, but the performances were later released as Blue Amberol records starting in 1913.
