British company sleeves · Columbia Graphophone Co.

Regal Zonophone “The Biggest Sellers”: brown and green sleeves

One Regal Zonophone design in two colourways. The small print in the caution box differs between them, and that difference gives each a different date.

Dating at a glance

Printed: Green c. 1933 – 1937
Brown 1938 or later
In use: The green sleeve probably mid-1930s. The brown sleeve late 1930s and probably the war years; its end is not established
Confidence: Medium-high for the order of the two and for the brown sleeve’s lower limit. Low for the brown sleeve’s upper limit
Basis: The start of the Regal Zonophone label, and the name of the Irish state printed in each caution box

The sleeves

The same design on both: REGAL ZONOPHONE in large outlined capitals across the top, concentric rings around the hole, THE BIGGEST SELLERS at the right and ALWAYS THE MOST NOVEL AND UNUSUAL IN RECORDS at the lower left, with a boxed caution notice at the lower right. Simon reports that each is the same on both sides.

Brown

Brown paper printed in dark brown. The caution box reads, in part:

CAUTION. Copyright subsists in Regal Zonophone records. Any unauthorised broadcasting or public performance of such records constitutes an infringement of such copyright … Regal Zonophone records are also protected by patents in Britain, Eire, Australia, New Zealand and various other countries …
COLUMBIA GRAPHOPHONE CO., LTD. 98, CLERKENWELL ROAD, LONDON, E.C.1.

Simon has paired this sleeve with George Formby’s When I’m Cleaning Windows, Regal Zonophone MR 2199, in a TT purchase-tax pressing. The TT code was used from April 1943 to April 1946, so that copy was pressed during the war or just after.

Green

Green paper printed in dark green-black. The caution box is worded differently and set in a different typeface:

CAUTION. Regal Zonophone Records are manufactured under British, Irish Free State, Australian and New Zealand patents, and are only licensed for sale at authorised prices, and for private performance. … Copyright subsists in all Regal Zonophone records by virtue of Copyright Act 1911. The Company reserves all its rights under copyright law.

The green sleeve’s box carries no company name or address, only a small printed letter, perhaps “H”, at its lower right corner. Some of its small print is faint in the photograph.

Brown Regal Zonophone sleeve with large outlined lettering, concentric rings, the words The Biggest Sellers and Always the most novel and unusual in records, and a caution box. — Brown sleeve: the caution box names Eire. Select the image for a larger view.

The same Regal Zonophone design printed on green paper, with a differently worded caution box. — Green sleeve: the caution box names the Irish Free State.

The evidence

DocumentedNot before 1932–33. After the Columbia Graphophone Company and the Gramophone Company merged to form EMI, their Regal and Zonophone labels were combined as Regal Zonophone in 1932 (Wikipedia). The merged label’s issues are usually dated from early 1933.
ObservedTwo different caution boxes. The green sleeve names the Irish Free State. The brown sleeve names Eire and adds the Columbia Graphophone Co. imprint at 98 Clerkenwell Road. Simon’s photographs show that the wording and typefaces of the two boxes are not the same, so the two are separate printings, not just different paper.
DocumentedIrish Free State to Éire. The Irish constitution that renamed the state Éire came into force at the end of December 1937.
InferredSo the green sleeve is the earlier, printed between 1933 and about the end of 1937, and the brown one was printed in 1938 or later. Printers may have been slow to change the wording, so a green sleeve printed in early 1938 is possible.
Documented98 Clerkenwell Road. A 1929 Columbia record of John Drinkwater gives the publisher’s address as 98 Clerkenwell Road, E.C. That confirms the Columbia link but does not date the sleeve.
InferredThe brown sleeve’s upper limit. EMI moved its labels to shared wartime sleeve designs from about 1942–43 (Around and Around). The brown Regal Zonophone design may have gone out around then, but we have not found it with a dated record, and we cannot rule out that it was printed after the war.
ObservedAnother Regal Zonophone design for comparison. Around and Around shows a tan Regal Zonophone sleeve with the same slogan, “Always the most novel and unusual in records”, holding MR 1501 (Billy Cotton, 1934). We have not compared its caution box with Simon’s sleeves.

Sources

Wikipedia, Regal Zonophone Records (label formed in 1932): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regal_Zonophone_Records
Damian’s 78s, John Drinkwater (Columbia, 98 Clerkenwell Road, 1929): http://music.damians78s.co.uk/artists/spoken-word-and-miscellaneous/john-drinkwater/
Around and Around, “EMI: the sleeve sets” (wartime harmonised sleeves from 1942–43): https://aroundandaroundcom.wordpress.com/emi-the-sleeve-sets/
Around and Around, “Early 78 sleeves” (Regal Zonophone sleeve with MR 1501, 1934): https://aroundandaroundcom.wordpress.com/early-78-sleeves/
UK purchase-tax codes on labels, Big Boppa sleeves site: https://sleeves.bigboppa.co.uk/UK/taxcode/tax-uk.htm
Discogs, Simon’s entry for the TT pressing of MR 2199 (a new submission): https://www.discogs.com/release/38993804

What we could not find

A dated example of either colourway with a record of known date.
When the Columbia Graphophone Co. stopped using the 98 Clerkenwell Road address on Regal Zonophone material.
Whether the green sleeve’s small letter is a printer’s code.

Notes from November 2026. Updated 12 November 2026 with Simon’s photographs of the brown and green sleeves.