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I don't collect needle tins but like others I come across them with other items fairly often.

Anyway, I saw these for sale on ebay and thought I had seen this design before - and I have ....... on my current avatar ! I have one or two other colours some-where too.

Anyway, does anyone know anything about them I wonder ? Did HMV actually make them ? When / where were they made ?

The seller has four different colours by the way.

Thanks very much for any help you can give.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/387033408685 ... R_6C2OH2Yw

These come from India. My own opinion is that they are not authorised HMV items but rather old fakes using an established trademark to sell needles. The printing is poor and badly aligned. That said they are still collectible.

jamiegramo wrote: Sun May 26, 2024 2:28 pm These come from India. My own opinion is that they are not authorised HMV items but rather old fakes using an established trademark to sell needles. The printing is poor and badly aligned. That said they are still collectible.

Very good !

Thank you very much jamiegramo.

The mystery is solved !

jamiegramo wrote: Sun May 26, 2024 2:28 pm These come from India. My own opinion is that they are not authorised HMV items but rather old fakes using an established trademark to sell needles. The printing is poor and badly aligned. That said they are still collectible.

I would thoroughly agree with your assessment!

From the earliest times, unscrupulous traders in India collected empty tins of genuine manufacture. These they refilled with inferior or even used needles, which they passed of as genuine. The practice became so prevalent that The G&T Company introduced the paper sealing band as a preventative measure.
It would not surprise me if the fake tins pictured originally contained sub-standard needles.