Clark Rolls with black border labels are the later ones.  When Clark
Orchestra Roll Co. was incorporated in 1920, times were good and the
labels were printed in two colors, with black lettering and red
borders.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, sales declined to the
point where C.O.R.C. was making very little money.  One way the firm
economized was to print the labels in one color -- black.  The printing
was done by Ernest Clark's son, Bayard, who had a print shop in the
same building.

During this time, Ernest Clark lamented the economic conditions and
said the firm would have entered into another line of business except
for the fact that the roll perforators couldn't be adapted to do
anything else but make rolls.  The best roll customers during the last
few years were companies that made roll-operated horse race gambling
machines (i.e. Baker's Pacers), and amusement companies that used
self-playing air calliopes.

During the 1930s, all C.O.R.C. rolls were adapted from 88-note QRS
player piano roll masters arranged by J. Lawrence Cook, not to be
confused with the J.L.C. style A and G rolls made in the 1950s.
Clark finally produced its last rolls and closed its doors in 1941.

Art Reblitz