Decca issued Classical LPs under the SXL and SET label prefixes during the 1950s, 60s and 70s. The Decca SXLs are world renowned for their sound quality and remain the most collected of the English Classical LPs.
The original label for the SXL was a black background with silver writing. It had the FFSS logo in a circle at the 12 O'clock position, and a wide silver band just above the spindle hole, and is therefore known as the 'wide band' label:
Wide Band - This was the
original issue up to SXL 6448
From SXL 6448, the first label was similar in design, but now had Decca in a box at 12 O'clock., and the band above the spindle was about half the width of that on a wide band. These are therefore know as 'narrow band' labels:
narrow band
For the SET issues, the labels were similar, except they were in purple:
Wide Band
narrow band
There are several labels that were in use for ASDs, and a popular recording that was issued in the early days of stereo my well be available in 5 different label designs.
The first label was in use up to ASD 575. It is creamy-white, with a gold
rim around the perimeter:
White & Gold - First issue up to ASD 575
The next label was the original issue from ASD 576 up to around ASD 2450. It had a red background with black writing,
and Nipper in a semi-circle at the top half of the label:
Semi-Circle (or Large Dog)
- First issue up to ASD 2450
From ASD 2450 there were 3 labels, very similar in design. All incorporated Nipper in a postage stamp sized box. In the first, the box is coloured. In the second, the box is in black & white. In the third, the box is again coloured, but has a white perimiter band:
1)
2)
3)
There was then a 1980s version which returned to the semi-circle design. These are usually easy to distinguish, because the records tend to be pressed on thin & floppy vinyl.
The first SAX label was in use up to SAX 2538 (although some records, notably SAX 2532 & 2534 were not issued until the label design had changed). It is a very pale blue, overlayed with a silver 'web' design:
Blue & Silver - first
issue up to SAX 2538
The second label was similar to the ASD semi-circle label - it is red with black writing, but has the Columbia Magic Notes logo in the top half of the label:
Red S/C - first issue up
to SAX 5290
The third label was again red with black lettering, but had the Columbia logo in a rectangle:
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