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For the do-it-yourselfer, the International Record Company's offer must have seemed irresistable: Simply buy a small batch of IRC's generic-label discs, have a rubber stamp made with your brand, and you're in the record business.

Pictured above are Champion (left) and Star (right), with an unbranded specimen below. Neither Champion nor Star are related to the better-known standard brands of the same name, nor is there any indication of who might have marketed these discs. The Pike's Talking Machine brand is also known, and it seems likely that other homemade brands will eventually surface. Catalog numbers are identical those on corresponding Excelsior and International Record releases.

Besides their flagship Excelsior label, IRC produced a wide array of custom brands for department stores, mail order firms, camera shops, and many other clients. IRC's austere generic labels are a stark contrast to the often colorful designs they produced for their better-heeled customers.

Based in Auburn, New York, IRC was one of several manufacturers that operated in violation of the basic patents on lateral disc recording. A preliminary injunction was handed down against IRC on June 11, 1907, the result of a patent- infringement suit brought by Columbia (American Graphophone Co. v. International Record Co., 155 F.427), and production was suspended at that time.

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