20.09.2020

A story of the trademark "His Master’s Voice" origination

“His Master’s Voice” (HMV) is an American trademark that depicts a dog listening to a gramophone. It has been utilized used in the music business for over a century and is considered one of the top-line brands in the world. It was created on the base of the painting of the like-named picture by the English artist Francis Barraud, depicting his brother’s Mark Barraud terrier-mix dog, named Nipper, listening to a wind-up disc gramophone. In the original 1898 painting, the dog was listening to a cylinder phonograph.

The amazing story of the best known dog in the music industry named Nipper is published in our Audio Stories cycle.

In the 1970s, the statuette of the dog and gramophone “His Master's Voice”, were cloaked in bronze and was awarded by the record company (EMI) to artists, music producers or composers as a music award and often only after selling more than 100,000 recordings.

Gramophone records with the famous trade mark “His Master’s Voice”, gramophones, a reproduction of a painting by Francis Barraud depicting a dog listening to a gramophone and memorable pocket watch “Victor” (1930s) are presented in the museum Collection exposition.