A last note ...
One of our astute listeners, Sarah, noticed that cylinder #23 was missing from the third batch of Lenora’s recordings. As I said in my response, this was one of our lingering mysteries. The sleeve Lenora marked #23 must have had its cylinder swapped out at some point.
When I first opened it, I immediately noticed that the tube was not cast from the same crimson wax as the others. This was a mass-produced Chroniphone song cylinder, not a dictagraph wax blank for recording. I attempted to record it, but, as you’ll hear, the phonograph included in the trunk had some trouble playing its tune.
I thought that would be the end of it. Nothing to see there.
Now, a comment from the curator of the Chroniphone Dictagraph Archive has given us another avenue for research. One that some of you have already successfully parsed, but that I will leave for others to discover for themselves, as I have scarcely processed the ramifications of what was uncovered.
Some things, once heard, can never be unheard.