1945 UNITED NATIONS 78 RPM Album - Charter Signing Delegates - G. ROBERT VINCENT

$

889

This extremely scarce seven-record album set contains seven 12-inch 78 rpm records and has the lengthy but self-explanatory cover title "Statements of the Delegates at the Signing of the United Nations Charter, San Francisco, 1945." The record sides are numbered 1 through 14, and the labels, in addition to the title (or a slight variation thereof), contain the UN logo at the top, the dateline "San Francisco, June 26, 1945" at the bottom, and, to the right of the spindle hole, the credit "Recorded on the scene by Robert Vincent, 610 Fifth Avenue, New York." Each label also lists the countries represented by the delegates speaking on that side. If I've counted correctly, there are 50 speeches, but two of them represent Australia, so only 49 countries are represented.

The records all look to be in EX or better condition, still beautifully shiny, with just a few scattered light scuffs and hardly any actual needle scratches. I haven't played all of them, but I've payed several of the sides on my Audio-Technica turntable, all with similar results - no skips or jumps, and mostly only very light background noise, with some occasional clicks or pops or light ticking or swishing. Because of variations in tracking ability, filtering devices and needle weights, I can offer no guarantees as to how well they will play on your equipment. 

The album itself is in solid and functional condition, with the pocket seams intact and the binding nice and tight. 

Robert Vincent, also known as G. Robert Vincent, was the leading sound recording engineer of his time, and was the mastermind behind the V-Disc label popular during World War II. According to his biography available online at 

https://img.lib.msu.edu/dmc/HelloPosterity.pdf

, he made only 200 copies of this album, and I believe most, if not all of them, were distributed to political leaders both in the United States and overseas. I have not specifically heard of any being sold, and, at the time of this listing, I see no copies for sale or sold on either eBay or any other online outlet. Even the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law does not list a copy of the album in its archives, although it has video documentaries of the event. 

For the reason of its scarcity, combined with its obvious value from a purely historical point of view, I had trouble coming up with a starting bid. I welcome your input and opinions of where I should have started the bidding.

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