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Hi, they could be but there are many metal tins around with the paper label across the tin (like this example). It would hardly be very profitable to make these, fill with needles and ship to the UK for someone to be able to sell on for £9.99. I would also expect there to be hundreds of them around, like crapophones, unless these are the first to make it to the UK ?? We'll have to keep watching ....

Gramtastic wrote:Hi, they could be but there are many metal tins around with the paper label across the tin (like this example). It would hardly be very profitable to make these, fill with needles and ship to the UK for someone to be able to sell on for £9.99. I would also expect there to be hundreds of them around, like crapophones, unless these are the first to make it to the UK ?? We'll have to keep watching ....

They don't need to be expensive to be made in India a few pennies probably and why if they are 100 years old have they just appeared , rather unlikely , no they haven't been around long , they would have appeared long ago and been in the HMV Nipper book

The Ebay seller has sold 4 this month !

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Phonographs-G ... ovejoysmp2

He's got more as well ! So follow him if you want one

"New message from: lovejoysmp2 (2,121)
YES I DO BUT WILL HAVE TO FIND THEM

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YES I DO BUT WILL HAVE TO FIND THEM

- lovejoysmp2


YOU:

Do you have any more Gramophone needle boxes ? "

Interesting ! At the moment he seems to be the sole UK source of these. It will be interesting to see if they appear from other sellers as I can't believe he has a monopoly on them ....

Mike is quite right to be sceptical. I suspected they were modern manufactured items as soon as I spotted the picture, albeit they are quite well made. The Late Ruth Lambert had every available tin from HMV's history - she was the specialist in the UK where tins were concerned and amassed the best collection in the world over many decades. Did she have one of these? No. As soundgen says, why are so many of these appearing NOW of all times, if they are SO rare that even within the collective of worldwide collectors no one has or had spotted one of these before?

With that said,we should also perhaps exercise a little caution condemning everything as 'fake' simply because the handy on-line guides and books don't conveniently show them. The latest HMV book does not show quite a few items which have turned up over the past 20 years, all of which have been completely genuine. No book can ever be totally comprehensive on this subject.

PS - I have a whole box of sealed HMV Half Tone needle tins (mustard colour) with the tiny paper seal wraps around them and they do cover the company name.

Yes, I think the jury is still out on these. I agree they are likely to be Indian made but.... the green paper label around them looks to have some age and matches originals around genuine tins so did someone in India find a batch of these original labels ? If they are being churned out in their thousands in India why have we only seen 4 boxes sold here ? surely they would have flooded the UK market like the crapophones themselves ? Intriguing .....

They could be both made in India AND legitimate. India was producing 78s up to the 60s, HMV 102s were being sold there up to that period and it could be that the local HMV produced these boxes for local consumption. After all, there is no reliable record of the HMV production in India. Just a guess ...

Between Ruth Lambert's research and the book Grammophon Nadeldosen, there is no mention of these boxes. That being said, they are "boxes" and not tins, so they may have been skipped over for inclusion as many other boxes and envelopes have been left out. Grammophon Nadeldosen is a very comprehensive book on needle tins and even so it does not include examples of all tins that have shown up, especially Japanese tins. Whatever the source for these boxes, I would still like an example as they are very attractive... even if they turn out to be Crap-O-Tins made for Crap-O-Phones...