Verve was bought by MGM in 1961. The MGM sleeves presented above should be the correct sleeves for Verve singles during Zappa’s periode. Version 1 was used until late 1966 and version 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 was used from late 1966 to 1968
MGM Records sleeve (version 3, 4, 5 and 6) images from Kjell Rundlöf.
A ebay seller sold a large amount of Verve/MGM promo singles on ebay, that came from a warehouse find. All his Verve promos came with a plain brown sleeve. I contacted the seller and he confirmed that the singles was just as they where issued. The Frank Zappa and related MGM/Verve singles he sold came all from MGM Record Manufacturing Division, Bloomfield, New Jersey. Go to popsike.com to see the Frank Zappa auctions or the Verve auctions from this seller.
I have also spotted several different “Verve Celebrity Scene” promo boxes and all of the singles had this brown sleeve.
The two sleeves presented above was not used on Zappa’s Verve singles. Both are pre-1961 sleeves – before MGM bought Verve records.
You will sometimes see these sleeves together with Zappa’s Verve singles. It is most likely a collector or seller that has wrongly added the sleeve.
Verve Records sleeve (version 2) image from Eelco Janzen.