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Mainspring Label Gallery / Images adapted from ARLIE

BELVEDERE
(1922)

Belvedere record label, from Paramount masters

Manufactured by the Bridgeport Die & Machine Company for Hochschild, Kohn & Company, a Baltimore, Maryland, department store. In 1921, before launching the Belvedere label, Hochschild Kohn had issued a special Baltimore commemorative disc recorded and pressed by the New York Recording Laboratories, but Belvedere was the store's first (and last) attempt at a standard record label.

Hochschild Kohn filed a trademark registration on November 15, 1920, claiming use of the Belvedere brand on phonographs since March 9, 1920, but did not mention records. The label was introduced in early 1922.

The few known Belvedere issues are BD&M pressings from NYRL's Paramount masters, duplicating material on Paramount, Puritan, and related labels. Couplings and catalog numbers are identical to those of corresponding Puritan releases, and there are at least two catalog series: a 11100 popular series and a 9100 classical and standards series. Some of Paramount’s most interesting early masters appear on this label, including selections by Ford Dabney’s Syncopated Orchestra, W.C. Handy's Memphis Blues Band, and the Original Memphis Five.

Belvedere was a short-lived label and is rare, especially outside the Baltimore area.


© 2000 by Mainspring Press. Label photo © 2000 by Kurt R. Nauck III. All rights reserved. No portion of this material may be reproduced without prior written consent of the copyright holder(s).