British company sleeves
Decca, HMV and EMI: brief notes to 1945
Short, sourced notes on British company sleeves we have come across. These are pointers, not full studies.
Designs are described in words. Simon’s own copy of the Decca design now has its own page; the others have not been photographed from his collection.
Decca “Supreme Records”
See Simon’s Decca “Supreme Records” sleeve.
An Art Deco sleeve with concentric arcs.
- DocumentedThe Victoria and Albert Museum dates an example to about 1940–45.
- DocumentedAround and Around reports the design still in use into the early 1950s.
EMI’s wartime “harmonised” sleeves
- DocumentedDuring the war EMI brought its labels’ sleeves into a shared set. Around and Around gives the first harmonised 78 sleeve as 1942 for Parlophone and 1943 for Columbia.
- ObservedThe HMV sleeve of the set is a one-colour design: buff paper, maroon print, “His Master’s Voice / Manufactured in England / RECORD”, Nipper panels and a copyright box. It has also been seen holding a 1938 HMV disc, but its own first date is not proven.
HMV buff-and-pink cover
- DocumentedThe London Museum dates an HMV buff-and-pink record cover to 1930–40.
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum, Decca “Supreme” sleeve, item O174858: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O174858/
- Around and Around, “Early 78 sleeves”: https://aroundandaroundcom.wordpress.com/early-78-sleeves/
- Around and Around, “EMI: the sleeve sets”: https://aroundandaroundcom.wordpress.com/emi-the-sleeve-sets/
- London Museum, HMV buff-and-pink cover, 1930–40: https://londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/v/object-542947/gramophone-record/
Not yet researched
We have not found dated examples of late-1930s HMV company sleeves or 1940s Regal Zonophone sleeves. Rex sleeves now have their own page, but no dated example of them has been found either.
Notes compiled October–November 2026.