British company sleeve · Hayes, Middlesex
Zonophone Record, British Zonophone Co. Ltd.: “Supreme Value / Consistent Quality”
A Zonophone company sleeve made for the British Zonophone Co. by The Gramophone Co. at Hayes.
Dating at a glance
- Printed
- before 1933
the design suggests the 1920s - In use
- To the end of the Zonophone label in 1932
- Confidence
- High that it is before 1933. Low for any closer date
- Basis
- The company name, and the end of Zonophone as a separate label
The sleeve
Green paper shading to dark green, with Zonophone Record
in large outlined script. A ring round the hole reads Manufactured for the British Zonophone Co. Ltd. By The Gramophone Co. Ltd., Hayes, Middlesex, England.
Below, on an ornamental plinth, are SUPREME VALUE
and CONSISTENT QUALITY
either side of the Zonophone cross trade mark, and along the foot The British Zonophone Co. Ltd., Hayes, Middlesex
. No printer’s imprint is visible.
Simon reports that the back is blank or the same as the front, so only the printed face was photographed.
The evidence
- DocumentedThe company name dates from June 1910. Zonophone labels show the change of name to British Zonophone Company Ltd in June 1910 (M. G. Thomas).
- DocumentedZonophone ended in 1932. When Columbia and the Gramophone Company merged to form EMI, Zonophone was combined with Regal to make Regal-Zonophone; M. G. Thomas gives 1932 as the end of the Zonophone label.
- InferredSo the sleeve is from 1910–1932. The airbrushed shading and lettering look 1920s to us, but that is a matter of style and we have no dated example.
Sources
- M. G. Thomas, Zonophone label page: http://www.mgthomas.co.uk/Records/LabelPages/Zonophone.htm
What we could not find
- A dated example of this design, for instance holding a Zonophone record whose label style can be dated from M. G. Thomas’s sequence.
Researched 12 November 2026 from Simon’s photographs of that evening.