Hallmark

According to legend, the idea for a dedicated budget label within Pickwick came after a particularly productive meeting with a major record company who had expressed an interest in having Pickwick release catalogue albums at budget prices under a new label. At first the Pickwick hierarchy were stuck with what to call the new venture, but one of those in charge happened to drop into a newsagents in order to purchase a birthday card for his wife. Having made his selection, he flipped the card over and saw the name Hallmark, the world renowned card manufacturer, and decided that would be an ideal name for the new budget label. In addition to reissuing records from major labels, Hallmark produced its own successful series of compelling albums, most notably the Top of the Pops series, which ran from 1968 to 1981 and had a brief revival in 1984.

Today, the Hallmark label is still used for the issue of our CD catalogue.