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If you're still looking out for more information, count me in as someone else who's been interested in it for a while.

As far as I can tell, however, there was no "true" earlier dub (in that multiple episodes were produced)-- the one you've described is the only episode with these alternate voices that exists. It seems to have aired, as you said, several times on HBO throughout the month of November 1983, always the same episode about counterfeit coins, under the name "The Adventure of Sherlock Hound" (as far as I can tell from various archived TV schedules).

Through searching around, I've found something that seems to confirm this, from a published work called The Anime Encyclopedia (preview can be seen on Google Books): "The first episode also exists in an alternate dub made by TMS for promotional purposes, which showcases more realistic British accents and renames Todd and Smiley as Nigel and Bruce." If this was the case in the version posted online, I believe these two "alternate dubs" were one and the same.

As this episode aired in the US a full year before the show premiered in Japan, it is unlikely that any further episodes of the series were dubbed due to several of the Miyazaki episodes being partially unfinished by then and the remaining episodes probably not even having been produced. The more mainstream dub was completed in 1984-1985, and even that was shortly before the Japanese audio tracks were recorded (apparently the English version was done first, to be used as the basis for most foreign dubs).

I think that's all the information available-- I'd be interested in knowing if your version uses these alternate names.

All that said, your post seems to imply that you still have a copy of the episode. When I found out about the existence of this dub, the original video and an HBO commercial advertising it had long since been removed. Is there any chance you could potentially upload it somewhere for comparison purposes?

I'd personally love to hear this alternate dub-- what little apparently exists of it. I doubt the voice actors' names would be available anywhere due to the lack of credits, but someone could possibly identify them.

EDIT 12/29: Have just viewed a copy of this dub; it is definitely the one mentioned in the encyclopedia. 99% certain it's the only one that was made from that time, then.

It's interesting to hear how a few of the lines are identical to those from the 1984 dub-- I guess whoever was in charge of adapting the scripts used this dub as a basis for some of that episode's dialogue. Can't say I prefer the voice acting, though.