Columbia cover manufacturers

At the bottom right corner of Columbia back covers is usually a numeric code:

Columbia-covers-manufacturer-codes-LJC-1800

WB (quoting Bruce Spitzer) , BeatleFan, Perry Cox,  these identify the following LP cover manufacturers:

2  Imperial Paper Box Corp., Inc. of Brooklyn, NY .
3  Modern Album of Long Island, NY
4  Imperial Packing Co., Inc. of Indianapolis, IN
5  Modern Album of Terre Haute, IN > Los Angeles
6  Imperial Packing Co., Inc. of Indianapolis, IN  > LA or Winchester
7  Columbia 1969 (original or subsidiary label)
8  Decca? c. 1966
9  Modern Album of Terre Haute, IN >  Jacksonville, IL

Source: WB on Hoffman thread

.There is a 1 code  missing from the list ( pictured below).

Columbia-cover--manufacturer-code-1-LJC

1 code from Columbia CL 1397 Dave Brubeck Time Out (CBS)

Kind-Of-Blue-white-label-mono-promo-jackets-(1959).jpg

We know KoB promo was pressed in 1959, the jacket manufacturers are local to the plant, we know:  2. Imperial Paper Box Corp, Brooklyn  NY;   4. Imperial Packing Indianapolis,   6.  Imperial Packing when supplying West Coast pressing plants.

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3 thoughts on “Columbia cover manufacturers

  1. I have an 8 on a 1963 release and it’s confirmed that its a 1963 release because it has the black font “360 Sound Stereo” across the bottom of the label. This may mean the 8 isn’t Decca if its ca 1966. Any thoughts?

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      • It always seemed odd to me that Columbia’s West Coast pressings should have jackets manufactured and shipped from Indiana. (Imperial, 6) . The missing link suggests a West Coast cover fabricator (unknown), and (8) looks a likely candidate, based on your Santa Maria provenance. Much of our knowledge is borrowed from hard-core archivists of Beatles and Rolling Stones and such like, and there are few corroborating sources. This one hasn’t shown up so far.

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