V Discs

[Troy13]

I have been looking into purchasing some V Discs but I am stepping into some very unknown territory. Anyone have any insight into them? I read an article about them in WWII magazine and it peaked my interest. I have seen them online for sale, but I know nothing about their legitamacy? So I have some questions I would like to see if someone could help me with.

 

1. Are they easy to come by?

 

2. Are there repro's out there?

 

3. How can you tell if what you are looking at is an original or a repro?

 

Thanks,

 

Troy

[Brian Keith]

The V Disks we have are larger than the regular records of the time. I really don't see anyone trying to "repo" one, except for possibly some one photo copying the label and pasting it on a record. You can still play them on an old 78rpm player if the record is in good shape.

I haven't see very many but it's an odd ball thing so most collectors wouldn't see much interest.

[Troy13]

Thanks Brian.

 

I have seen two differnt labels. Ones that say"Army-Navy-Marine Corp-Coast Guard" across the top half and others that say "War Department-Music Section-Athletic & Recreation Branch-Special Services Division A.S.F" I wondered what the difference was? Were the produced at different times or by different companies?

 

Troy

[GICOP]

I have a few V Discs in my record collection.

 

V Discs are 12" records, the size of LP's, and were pressed on Shellac and Vinyl.

 

The Red/White labels are War Department issues and the Blue/White labels are Navy Department

 

Here is a picture of the envelope that contained the steel needles, one is marked War Department and the other Navy Department

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-Disc

 

They turn up on Ebay quite often, prices vary along with condition. Never heard of any being reproduced.

 

Best of luck collecting

 

Martyn

[Homefrontguy]

A general comment on fakes in the field of Home Front collectibles. This field of collecting hasn't seen many remakes, fakes, ripoffs and duplicates made. The general rule applies that the value of the original item is high enough so that the cost of the reproduction or ripoff would be enough of a difference to cover the cost of remaking one. In the case of V Discs the cost to remake them would not be worth the investment. One area of rather inexpensive items thats an exception to the rule (isn't there always one???) is paper collectibles since they can be easily duped on todays high quality copiers. These of course can be easily detected with the black light test. As examples, I have seen remakes of food labels, the Disney war bonds certificate, flyers, chocolate wrappers and other paper items. Posters as well have been duplicated for educational reasons as well as those trying to make a buck selling them. The eBay poster category has become, as one of my good collector friends calls it " a cesspool" because of all the duplicates. I should mention that plenty of quality can still be found floating.

 

I have seen some of the marquee items in the home front area remade. The famous bowling pins with the axis leaders have been remade but not for the point of trying to sell them. The remakes appear on the back of the America at War Scrapbook by Jacobs and Numark. There are also some fantasy items. These are items that didn't exist during the war but were made to look like they were. Two examples I can cite here are clocks and milk bottles. They both sell for good money when passed off as originals and are easily confused with the originals made during the war. Also, I have a photo of a Hitler ashtray that was duplicated. Overall good news as there aren't many fakes.

 

Maybe some of the other seasoned collectors can cite some examples of fakes and remakes. I see there is a category for fakes so maybe I should post this there as well.

 

Jim

[Troy13]

Martyn and Jim,

 

Thanks for the information. I think I will look into finding a few to add to my growing collection. I think they would go nicely in a homefront display. I appreciate all your help.

 

Troy

[Brian Keith]

While we are talking about these "V-Disks" in the Home Front section, I will create a fine line in that these are not really Home Front. When I think of Home front, I think of the Civilian side of the war, these were supplied to the military for military use and were supposed to be destroyed post war. They were not ever supposed to be in the hands of civilians.

BKW

[Homefrontguy]

Good point Brian, though like many items they did get in the hands of the public. A way to cover the point might be to find the records that servicemen recorded to send home to loved ones with a personal message. I have one my Great Uncle did prior to leaving for New Guinea. It looks like a 45 rpm with a label with blanks for writing a message. Mine is pretty plain but some are very nicely decorated with images of soldiers and sailors. These were often sponsored by company's or done at USO canteens and even by the Red Cross. One that is decorated would display very well. I would guess you could get one for a good price on ebay. Here are some examples.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/WORLD-WAR-2-USO-LETTER...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/WW2-Voices-of-Freedom-...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Antique-WWII-R...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

Jim

[Troy13]

Brian,

 

I see your point. I was forgetting that the military was behind the drive to provide the records. I had to go back and re-read the article in WWII magazine.

 

Jim,

 

Thanks for the links. Now I know what to look for.

 

Troy

[siege1863]

Here is another example of the recordings mentioned by Homefrontguy. This one is not fancy but is interesting because of the date. It was recorded 8 December 1941! Ths sailor who recorded it was performing for a Washington, D.C. area school. At the end of the song he sends a message to his mother and mentions having earlier listened to the President declare war. I find it fascinating to listen to this man's message which has not been heard in almost 66 years!

 

 

[Brian Keith]

Homefrontguy,

We have a few of those in our collections, I have never made the effort to play one, have you? I think I have seen ones sponsered by Coca-Cola, and I'm pretty sure I have one sponsered by Pepsi-cola. Looks like I should try to dig one out and post it.

Also, just so I'm not misunderstood, I'm not complaining about this discussion being in the "Home Front" section, I'm just pointing out what they were for.

BKW

[Brian Keith]

siege1863, you posted that while I was typing, that is a great one, WOW!, Dec 8, 41!!

Excellent!

BKW

[Homefrontguy]

I have played the one recorded by my Great Uncle on a record player though I no longer have a record player to listen to it. It sounded like you would expect from a rough recording on vinyl. The value of mine came from family but how great it would be to find one recorded the day after Pearl Harbor. Great find Siege 1863.

[Troy13]

Siege,

 

That is a very nice record. It would have been neat to listen to it 2 days ago (although many years later) and just think of what was about to unfold in the next few years.

 

I did finally get my very own v disc. It came today from France. I know it is not that rare, but to me it was pretty exciting. One more thing to add to the clutter. Now I just need to find a record player to see if it works. (They are about as scarce as some of the items we collect these days)

 

Troy

 

 

[GICOP]

Hi Troy

 

Good to see you've found one.

 

This is my player, cost me £125 ($250)

 

 

 

They turn up on Ebay, I think one went for around $450 last week

 

Best of luck

 

Martyn

[jgawne]

I have a few of them- they came from France.

 

Technically they were not to ge used in the US, (where guys had acess to real records that paid the artists). The ones sent overseas were supposed to be destrpyed at the end of the war. But who is going to smash records when they did not have to?

 

Many ended up in european radio stations, and as a lot of them had military related messages on them, that section of the record (on mine anyway) have been marked with what looked like ornage wax crayon to the DJ did not put the needle in the wrong track. Never found a safe way to remove the crayon either.

 

A while back one of the orignal engineers of the disks made CD's of some of the recordings for sale. I do not know if he is still around, but many of the recordings are considered rare and important by music people.

 

I'd look for them in record collector forums.

[Troy13]

I did take Jim's advice in post #8 and watched one of the auctions he pointed out.

Below is the result. Although I am quite shocked. I was expecting an actual record made of a material similar to vinyl. Instead, this is something like laminated cardboard with the groves on it. (Not complaining, just never seen it before)

 

Troy

 

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