The record holder for the world’s smallest playable record is a tiny shellac pressed by HMV in 1924, a functional miniature gramophone record containing a recording of Peter Dawson singing ‘God Save the King.’
It was originally created as part of a doll’s house for England’s Queen Mary that began construction in 1920.
The doll house contained functional items 1/12th the size of their real-life counterparts, including a functional miniature gramophone.
The record is 33.3mm / 1 5/16th inches in diameter and plays back at 78rpm. 35,000 copies were pressed.
Pathé was founded by brothers Charles & Émile Pathé, who were owners of a successful bistro in Paris.
In 1905 they entered the growing field of disc record . In October of 1906 they started producing discs in the more usual material of shellac. Even with this less eccentric material, Pathé discs were unlike any others.
The grooves were cut vertically into the discs, rather than the more common lateral method. The discs rotated at 90 rpm (and even 120 rpm), rather than 78 or 80.
The recordings started on the inside near the center of the disc, spiraling out to the edge rather than vice-versa. Possibly all of this unusual technology was a preventive measure to ensure that no other record company could sue Pathé for violating their patents. Even the record sizes were unusual; other disc records came in 7 inch, 10 inch, and 12 inch sizes, while Pathé's came in 21 cm, 25 cm, 27 cm, 29 cm, 35 cm, and 50 cm sizes. Unsurprisingly, these Pathé system records could only be played on Pathé phonographs, which would usually not play other types of recordings.
Aretino was started by Arthur J. O’Neill, who was linked to several Chicago-area record and phonograph operations.
Aretino is an oddity distinguished by its records' spindle hole, the largest ever produced for commercial purposes. A phonograph machine was offered cheaply, however, this phonograph could only play Aretino records because it came with a 3-inch spindle. The design was intended such that an Aretino record could be played on any disc phonograph of the time. As such, O’Neill also offered adapters for Aretino discs that allowed them to be played on phonographs with a standard spindle, or even on a Busy Bee machine with its extra spindle hole.
