Only the UK Decca pressed exports, such as the blue/gold London 45s & EPs made for the US market were pressed with large centres, no UK ones had large centres despite others claims. Click on the USA Capitol tri picture above to see what a removed thick tri looks like, it can range from obvious to barely noticeable. In Jan/Feb 1955 the longer thin tri was introduced which left nothing sticking out on breaking the centres out, which had resulted in thick tri's needing centre remains cutting off to fit the large spindle, if they hadn't cracked by heavy hands! This cutting off the thick tri waste only hides any trace of the thick tri, confusing some. It was to be replaced by the standard & less attractive tri a few months later (by dates on EP covers) for reasons unknown. The "Long Thin Tri" continued until June 1955 & it was used at the same time as the standard tri from about Mar 1955, which is proved by London 8142 being a standard tri with a "B" code & the one in the VRC book having a Long Thin Tri. London 8125 (Feb 55) is a standard tri with a "B" code. It didn't suddenly change therefore. As a note the earliest gold lettered EMI 45s (pink label pop & maroon classical) were pressed with US-style large centre holes, this looks to have been abandoned by late 1953 when the usual 4 prong EMI centre started.

Very Rare March 1955 Thick Tri Centre with strange 'Billy' misprint

Very First Press of London 8382. Has "B" as Buckingham code.

Some London records (and no doubt other labels) were only issued as ROUND centres from August 1959, making those from Sept 1959 to Feb 1960 pretty rare apart from 8942 & 8948. Similar with GOLD PRINT Londons made by Decca. SEE OUR LONDON TRI PAGE

Some 1956 issues with the catalog number in thick bold print (see London 8382 above) are known to be, from the BUCKINGHAM codes, to be PRESSED BEFORE the Gold print ones, depending where the labels were made & pressed. Any Silver with the Bold catalog number & larger matrix number on label will very likely be pressed BEFORE the Gold if it's original issue was after April 1956! The early 1956 Golds could be very weak, eg 8240 & 8247. None of these changed overnight. It's just the Gold are seen as more desirable. These Bold print Silvers looked and aged nicer than the Golds on the 1956-57 Londons, which tended to fade badly as weakly printed, though the earliest 1954-55 ones used better ink as they can still be found with very bright print, especially 8061. The 'Gold' was actually copper and fading 'Gold' edges towards verdigris, green dusty oxidisation, if you find a water-soaked attic find! SEE OUR LONDON GOLD PAGE

Gold Londons ended Spring 1957 with 8405 & 8420 rarely found on Gold. Decca Gold's ended around April 1955. Gold EMI ended early 1957 with one oddity by Johnny Duncan (Columbia DB3959) once found with Gold one side, silver the other! Another minor point is the legend 'Unbreakable' that appeared since the first EMI 45s in 1953 ended mid 1954, with Eartha Kitt's chart hit from 1955 being released in 1954 should have the legend to be the first pressing.