Edison Bell Winner · Pre-war and wartime record sleeves up to 1945

Edison Bell Winner record sleeve

A Winner company sleeve from Edison Bell Limited, advertising needles and a catalogue of 3,000 titles.

Dating at a glance

Printed: c. 1926 – 1933
In use: Up to the end of Winner in 1935
Confidence: Medium
Basis: The company name Edison Bell Limited, used between 1926 and the 1933 reorganisation

The sleeve

Grey-green paper printed in dark purple, under the heading Edison Bell WINNER RECORD. Side panels read:

CONTROL THE VOLUME of YOUR GRAMOPHONE with the SYMPATHETIC Chromic Needle and GRIP … One Box of Sympathetic Needles plays 1000 Records at any desired volume … SOLE MANUFACTURERS AND PATENTEES

WINNER RECORDS are manufactured under ROYAL LETTERS PATENT (26689-1912) and must not be sold below authorised price.

Below the hole: Ask your Dealer for Catalogue of 3000 Titles Winner & Velvet Face and EDISON BELL LIMITED, London, S.E.15. A smaller panel advertises Edison Bell needles, each needle plays 10 records. 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.

Grey-green Edison Bell Winner sleeve printed in purple, with panels about Sympathetic needles and Royal Letters Patent, and Edison Bell Limited, London S.E.15 at the foot. — Simon’s sleeve. Select the image for a larger view.

The evidence

DocumentedEdison Bell Limited, 1926 to 1933. J. E. Hough Ltd went public as Edison Bell Ltd in 1926. After it failed, Howard Flynn re-formed it as Edison Bell (1933) Ltd (Country Joe McDonald’s Florence Nightingale recording history page). A sleeve signed “Edison Bell Limited” fits 1926–1933.
DocumentedWinner ran from 1912 to 1935 (The 78 rpm Club), so the sleeve could have been used up to 1935.
ObservedVelvet Face, Edison Bell’s other label, is still named in the catalogue line.
InferredThe 1912 patent is the label’s old patent notice and does not date the sleeve.

Sources

Country Joe McDonald, Florence Nightingale: the cylinder recording (Edison Bell company history): https://countryjoe.com/nightingale/cylinder.htm
The 78 rpm Club, The Winner: https://78rpm.club/record-labels/the-winner/

What we could not find

When Velvet Face ended, which might narrow the upper limit.
Dated examples of this sleeve design.

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