HELLIFIELD reader Phyllis Capstick was spot on with her guess about last week's mystery object.

She said it was a cylinder recording of the female recording artist Vesta Tilley, who lived from 1864 to 1952.

Experts at Craven Museum and Gallery tell us: "Phonograph cylinders were the earliest commercial medium for recording and reproducing sound, enjoying the height of their popularity between 1896 and 1915.

"The phonograph was developed as a result of Thomas Edison's work on two other inventions, the telegraph and the telephone. The phonograph cylinder, invented in 1877, was an original invention which engraved audio recordings on the outside surface of hollow wax cylinders. The sound could then be reproduced when played on a mechanical phonograph.

"The cylinder featured here is engraved with The King of the House Is Baby by Vesta Tilley. Released in 1906, this cylinder was an Edison 'Gold Moulded’ record. The major development of this line of cylinders was that Edison successfully created a process that permitted the mass-production of audio cylinder technology.

"By the 1910s, the competing disc record system superseded the phonograph cylinder in the marketplace to become the dominant commercial audio medium. The commercial production of cylinders for entertainment use ended in 1929.

All items featured in this column will be on display when Craven Museum - located in the town hall - reopens in the spring.

Meanwhile guesses about this week's mystery object should be emailed to news@cravenherald.co.uk