Currys

Curry's were bicycle manufacturers originally, starting in 1884. I assume that, like now, they had many branches around the country. However, like many bicycle shops at the start of the 20th century, they started selling records and gramophones too. The difference was that they decided to have their own record labels too. Apart from the ones here, with their own name, they also sold "Portland" and "Westport" records exclusively as well. Whether they also sold the standard record labels, I have no idea.

   The first "Curry's" records were pressed by Edison Bell using matrices available on their "Bell" and "Winner" label (some were just "paste-overs"). They probably date from 1911, and are likely to have been quite short-lived as they are very rare, even compared to "Bell Discs" from which they were derived. (See first example, right.)
       From just after the end of the Great War, the second Currys label appeared, using masters from Guardsman (see second example right). This fairly short-lived, probably a year or two at the most and used a catalogue series starting at 1 and reaching just over 100 before being cancelled. Then a third series was introduced about 1921 (based on the recording dates of the masters used), pressed by Crystalate from their existing Imperial catalogue. Records were usually issued under pseudonyms (almost all dance records issued as Curry's Dance Orch). The catalogue numbering started again at 1, and reached over 300 before they were withdrawn.
   Subsequently, Curry's records use a paste-over label on Piccadilly records (see fourth example), probably to sell old stock, until around 1929. The records were probably sold for 1/- to 1/6 (5p - 7.5p). These show the same catalogue number & artist credit as the original Piccadilly issue. It is not known how many Piccadilly records were overlabelled in this manner, but from my experience, the concentration is on the earlier records - the highest I have is number 452.

I am going to try to list the second & third Curry's labels, the yellow ones, which seem to be two series, but using a similar starting number, just to be confusing.
Please e-mail me if you can help me fill in the gaps in any of these series.
Thanks to the following for providing extra details: John Farmer, Norman Field

First, the earlier yellow-label. These date from about 1918-1920 and pull masters from Invicta/Guardsman.

Cat No.	Matrix No.	Title	Artists as Labelled	Actual Artists	Original UK issue
1
2
3
4
5	1355 or 1356	El Capitan	The Guards Band	?	Guardsman
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36	1706 or 1707	How Ya Gonne Keep 'Em Down On The Farm?	Messrs Daniels' Dance Band	Band Of H.M. Scots Guards	Guardsman 933
37
38	1622 1629	Ja-Da When We Used To Gather At The Old Dun Cow	Messrs Smith & James Jack Newman (comic)	Jack Charman & Lionel Rothery	Guardsman 918
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52	1853 1854	Delilah, waltz Jazz Twinkle	Martin's Dance Orchestra
53
54
55
56
57
58
59	1881	Dardanella	Messrs Daniels' Dance Band	Guardsman Dance Orchestra	Guardsman 1007
60
61
62
63
64
65
66	1884 1886	Patches (vocal chorus by Jack Charman) Caroline Sunshine (waltz)	Cafe Orchestra	Guardsman Dance Orchestra
67
68	7248 7247	Oh, By Jingo Profiteering Blues	Howard Reed Fred Patterson	Billy Jones Jack Kaufman	Gennett 9032
69
70
71
72
73	1800	Let The Lower Lights Be Burning	Mr. Arthur Griffiths (baritone)	Edward Halland	Guardsman 1033
74	7105	While Others Are Building Castles In The Air	Thomas King	Charles Hart	Gennett 9007
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82	1991 1992	Souvenir Of Switzerland Columbia	John Peyton (cornet, with orch)
83
84
85
86	2007 2008	Peach Melba Swanee	Triumph Dance Orchestra	Guardsman Dance Orchestra	Guardsman 1067
87
88
89
90
91	2043 2046	I'm Getting Tired Playing Second Fiddle El Relicario (paso-doble)	Merlin's Dance Orchestra	Guardsman Dance Orchestra	Guardsman 1084
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106	7387	Don't You Remember The Time?	Gordon & Godfrey	Mason & Ring	Gennett 9102
107	2261 2262	Why Did You Choose Me? Silver Star	Mr. Donald Stuart (baritone, with orch)	Campbell Carr (Robert Carr?)	Guardsman 1130
108	2260 2263	Blue-Bird (waltz) Silver Star (waltz)	Triumph Dance Orchestra	Guardsman Dance Orchestra	Guardsman 1131
109
110

Cat No.	Matrix No.	Title	Artists as Labelled	Actual Artists	Original UK issue
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14	2497 2498	Wyoming Lullaby Louisiana	"Star" Syncopators (duet, with piano)
15
16
17	4273 4315	You Can't Get Many Pimples On A Pound Of Pickled Pork I Can't Do My Bally Bottom Button Up	Fred Stratton	? Harry Cove
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39