British company sleeves · Crystalate and Decca

Rex: “The King of Records” lion sleeve and the floating-disc sleeve

Three Rex sleeves: the lion design naming Crystalate, and one floating-disc design in two colourways.

Dating at a glance

Printed: 1933 – 1948
the lion sleeve probably 1933–37
In use: Rex records were issued from September 1933 to February 1948
Confidence: High for the label’s life. Low-medium for the lion sleeve’s narrower range. Not dated within the range for the floating-disc sleeve
Basis: The life of the Rex label, and the company named on the lion sleeve

The sleeve

“The King of Records” lion sleeve

Red and black, with REX top left, a large rampant lion, The King of Records, and bands of stripes at the foot carrying the line:

CRYSTALATE GRAMOPHONE RECORD Man. Co. Ltd
60 CITY ROAD · LONDON · E.C.1

Simon took two photographs; he notes the design is the same on both sides.

Floating-disc sleeve, two colourways

An airbrushed picture of a large record tilted across the sleeve over a background of smaller records whose labels are lettered “REX”, with REX RECORDS at top left. One copy is printed in brown or sepia, the other in grey or grey-green. No company name, address or printer’s imprint is visible on either.

Simon reports the backs of these sleeves are blank or the same as the front.

Red and black Rex sleeve with a rampant red lion, the words The King of Records, and the Crystalate address at the foot. — Lion sleeve. Select the image for a larger view.

Second photograph of the Rex lion sleeve. — Lion sleeve, second photograph.

Sepia Rex Records sleeve with an airbrushed large record tilted over a background of smaller Rex records. — Floating-disc sleeve, brown colourway.

The same Rex floating-disc design printed in grey-green. — Floating-disc sleeve, grey colourway.

The evidence

DocumentedThe label. Rex “The King of Records” first appeared in September 1933, made by Crystalate and sold at 1/-, largely through Marks & Spencer. Decca took over Crystalate in March 1937, and the last Rex records appeared in February 1948 (M. G. Thomas).
InferredThe lion sleeve names Crystalate. That fits the Crystalate years of 1933–37. Whether sleeves with Crystalate’s name went on being printed or used after Decca’s takeover is not established, so later use is possible.
ObservedThe floating-disc sleeve names no company. We have no evidence placing it within 1933–48, or saying which colourway came first. We have not assumed that the grey printing is a wartime economy.
ObservedIn Simon’s collection, an audit of November 2026 recorded Rex 9632 (1939) and Rex 10,101 (released March 1942) as housed in “The King of Records” sleeves. We have not checked whether those are this lion design, and a record in a sleeve proves little about the sleeve’s date.

Sources

M. G. Thomas, Rex label page: http://www.mgthomas.co.uk/Records/LabelPages/Rex.htm
The Art & Design of the 78rpm Record Sleeve, “REX – The King of Records”: https://sleevesandlabels.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/rex-the-king-of-records/

What we could not find

A dated example of either design.
A Rex sleeve naming Decca, which would show when the Crystalate wording was dropped.

Researched 12 November 2026 from Simon’s photographs of that evening.