8mm Forum: How we read the Blackhawk's label?

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Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on January 25, 2006, 04:55 PM:

Perhaps Blackhawk expert can helm me with this.

Sometimes people selling Blackhawk films without having the idea if they are silent or sound, while I am only after sound movies. It is good if the front cover has a "Magnetic Sound" label on that, but it could have been peeled off.

So, since Blackhwak has a unique label on the edge of the boxes, can you tell me how could we identify if the film is silent or sound?.

This is Blackhawk label:

cheers,

Posted by Tony Stucchio (Member # 519) on January 25, 2006, 06:06 PM:

Winbert,

If the number starts with 880 it is Super 8 mag sound. 860 is Super 8 silent. It is the number directly below the title of the film.

Regards,

Tony

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on January 25, 2006, 06:10 PM:

Thanks Tony, it is really helpful. But what about with the reel size (200 or 400) and the number of reels (one, two or three parter)

cheers,

Posted by Michael De Angelis (Member # 91) on January 25, 2006, 10:54 PM:

Winbert,

These picts seem as if they are silent films, and silent versions of sound films.

Tony is correct. The 8800 is the designation for all Super 8 sound films.

- The prefix code of: 830, is the designation for Standard 8mm Sound films.-

If the box is opened, they can also see on one side if it has that brown appearance with the mag stripe.

I believe that you are not looking at sound versions in this advertisement.

Michael

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on January 25, 2006, 11:03 PM:

Michael, I am not going to buy those reels. The picture is just for example.

So more information I got now:

880 = Sound, Super 8
860 = Silent, Super 8
830 = Sound, Standard 8

Any body can help for the following conditions:
??? = Silent, Standard 8
880??? = 200 or 400 feet?
880xxx??? = 0ne, two or three reelers?

Sometime seller don't know what the magnetic strips are and easily say "sell as is". That's why the easy way for me is to ask the seller quoting the numbers.

Posted by Tony Stucchio (Member # 519) on January 26, 2006, 07:05 PM:

Standard 8 silent is 810.
Sometimes, the number after FTG indicates the footage, as seems to be the case in the pictures. But I have seen cases where the number was completely off. Best to ask the seller to measure the diameter of the reel. 5 inches for a 200 foot reel, 7 inches for a 400 foot reel.

There is never a guarantee that the box indicates what is really on the film. I have Super 8 sound L&H's where the box has the 860 number, and there is no mag sound sticker. My guess is sometime in the film's life, somebody switched boxes. Though back when I was a kid I remember getting shipments from Blackhawk with the wrong film in the right box -- if that makes sense! In other words, the box was supposed to be a Standard 8 L&H film, but actually contained a Super 8 version. Once, returned home from Willoughby-Peerless in Manhattan with a Super 8 mag sound copy of ANOTHER FINE MESS, only to find out reel 1 was Buster Keaton in COPS. Reel 2 was reel the second part of MESS, though. From that point on, I always insisted the salesman check the leader to make sure it was right! The chances of this happening on eBay, with people selling stuff found in the attic, is great.

Before eBay, once I called a store who sold collectibles to see if they had any old films. They did, but asked how to tell if it was 8mm or 16mm. I told them that 8mm film was 8mm wide, and that 16mm film was 16mm wide. (Duh!) They still couldn't tell me. So I said if it is about the width of your thumb it is probably 16mm, otherwise 8mm. Then they figured it out. True story!

Posted by Joe Caruso (Member # 11) on February 01, 2006, 04:26 PM:

These guys are right; One of my Super 8 SCORED SILENTS is #875 THE TRAMP, so just a special release - I've collected Blackhawk Films since the 60's and the coded labels always fascinated me - Sometimes a label will say 860-55, which is Silent and #55 in that series of stamped codes, in this case it's THE FINISHING TOUCH on my box - When I met David Shepard at Syracuse, he kindly explained about much information with Blackhawk - Shorty

Posted by Tony Stucchio (Member # 519) on February 01, 2006, 05:58 PM:

Shorty,

Please share some more info about Blackhawk from David. Sounds like it could be interesting.

Thanks,

Tony

Posted by Joe Caruso (Member # 11) on February 02, 2006, 10:02 AM:

I will as soon as I find a nice letter he sent about it, hope to see many of you fine folks at Syracuse come March

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