THE BEATLES I Want To Hold Your Hand/This Boy GRAIL EMI SOLID CENTRE Beautiful

	£		418
	$		553

More Information to follow! But Please check out my other items! This week I have some of the very rarest Beatle's UK 7"s (more Rare Solid Centre Beatles singles than I've ever seen listed together before! Both the EMI AND The ORIOLE Solid Centre I Want To Hold Your Hand etc!), some of the rarest FREAKBEAT singles and PSYCH DEMOS (The Eyes, Mickey Finn, Linda Van Dyck, Stone Graphics etc etc etc.), plus Megarare Overseas Pressings Suck as The YARDBIRDS' Heart Full Of Soul German EP Original and the to my knowledge UNDOCUMENTED BEATLES' South Rhodesian Scroll Label/Tri Centre Ain't She Sweet with Sweet Georgia Brown on the B-side! I have loads of rarities, but this week, I'm pulling out a fair chunk of the Cream of the Crop for you! Bid with confidence! I'll ship to anywhere in the world, though if the item goes above the standard £20 insurance value, I insist on FULLY INSURED postage paid for by the winning bidder, so please bear this in mind! Please click here to check out my other items!
And as I have been and continue to sell some of the very rarest/most sought after records of all genres, why not add me to  your favourites list!

LISTEN TO BOTH SIDES IN THEIR ENTIRETY RIGHT HERE!!!...PLUS LOADS OF OTHER RARE SOUL/BEAT/PSYCH/ FREAKBEAT/FOLK/PROG/ RARE BEATLES RECORDS LISTED OVER NEXT WEEK OR SO! CHECK THEM OUT here in my other items! (Please check before bidding for international rates, many thanks!) This recording comes direct from the vinyl copy you are now bidding on, straight out of my NAD amp, into my ZOOM H2 recorder, recording directly into MP3. When including these recordings for this purpose I make no audio tweaks in any way to the audio recording I have done, I do not alter the weight of the stylus, though I do use a fresh stylus, as, I'm sure we're all aware, is healthy to do anyway, very regularly! (Just as an additional note, just this week annoyingly, I've had a little trouble with the right-hand-side signal so please bear this in mind in this weeks recordings- Or Don't! Either way, I hope I have developed enough of a rapport with regular and infrequent buyers alike for you to know that I in no way try to mislead anyone in my listings, and am more than happy to back that up with a return/refund policy! Though so far, that has never even needed to be employed, and I hope to keep it that way!)

Record Weight: 33.8g    Conditions: Disc Visually: strongVG+/ or weaker EX- Disc Audibly: strong EX-/possibly EX judge for yourself above! Labels: EX- Sleeve: EX- 
The initial introduction to this single is the same as the incredibly rare Solid Oriole Pressing of this single I also currently have listed, so please don't feel duped by my pasting the initial few lines from that write-up here!…
This is an incredibly rare Beatles single… well OK granted this single isn't very rare, but this pressing certainly IS! EMI are known to have produced solid centre copies from 1966 onwards, and even, in early 1967 tried to phase out (unsuccessfully) push-out centres, therefore a very limited few later pressing copies of earlier singles were pressed with "solid centres". These were so rare as A) everyone already had the single, B) if you didn't have it and wanted (even though it was no longer a chart hit) you could either pick up a very good/as good as new second hand copy very cheaply, and C) most shops you asked for a new copy of this single would still carry a good stock of old stock or original copies, therefore EMI was called on in extremely limited numbers to re-press this single.  This is thought to be one of THE RAREST UK BEATLES PRESSINGS TO EXIST, with Popsike cataloging less than 10 copies ever having come up for sale!  I was very lucky with this one, I've had this for longer than Solid Centres were catalogued as rarities, and just kept it in my collection because A) it looked different (and really that's kind of what collecting is about isn't it?!), and B)it was the best sounding copy I had for a long time! Check above, listen to the entire audio, it really is a VERY nice copy! Since ebay has opened up a whole other level of record collecting and "Solid Centres" have been a hot topic I have always been happy I hung onto it, and that it was my best copy (otherwise who knows what I might have done with it?!). There are 2 variations that are obvious at first glance, available on these genuine EMI solid centres, some have the SITUK text in the centre and some don't, the jury's out on this one, the Spizer/Daniels Beatles Collectors' Bible "Beatles For Sale On Parlophone Records" seems to suggest that without SITUK credits (which is what this is), were pressed in less numbers than those copies with SITUK credits. (I want to quote the book here, but without permission don't feel I should for infringement of copy-write!), though both have been sold a minuscule amount of times, since Popsike and other sites have been cataloguing online sales! And between them both add up to less than 10! This is a fresh copy that has never been online, as it's been kept very safe in my collection since the early 90s! It is thought that this is an example of EMI using up older out of date labels (Parlophone Rim, and Non-SITUK) on later pressings to use up stock, so to speak, another interesting twist in this rarity's tale! It has N.C.B. Credits on both sides and No SITUK text on either label. The rims are upper-case "Parlophone" text on both sides.  Visually the Disc rates as VG+/EX-, it has very light surface marks/hairlines visible when angled into strong light, but so light that the audio is extremely strong (please listen above!), and still has a very nice gloss to the record's surface! The Labels Grade also VG+/EX-, and really the grade to the higher end of this, the only reason VG+ gets a snifter in there is because on the A side just to the left of the 12 o'clock mark, there has been a very subtle black transfer (exactly the same hue and colour as the label), of an "X" about 7mm high and indeed, so undetectable that I only noticed it when preparing this disc to sell! Really as noticeable as a spindle trail! I have tried to capture this in the final photo, though I think you'll agree it is not very visible, even when angled to try and show it up! Also visible in the very last photo is an ever so slight fold in the label, this was caused in manufacture, and isn't a post-factory inflicted injury! Apart from this there are a literal handful of very light spindle rubs (only visible when angled into the light) around the A-side centre hole, and just a few more around the B-side centre-hole. The B-side label also has a 1mm lightening around the outer-most 1mm top-edge. I don't fully understand what causes this, but it definitely looks like a manufacture fault as, the B-side label is stuck slightly lower than it should be, as can be seen with the centre hole of the label being about 3mm lower than the actual pressed centre-hole, and for the same 1mm edge of this label centre hole, there is the same lightening rim, as the very top edge, this perhaps tells us a little more about the labels and how they were pressed at this time. The Sleeve: EX-, a lovely "Big Hit Now, Lashes With Dizzy Dimensions" Miner Make-Up style company sleeve of the period when this was pressed. (note the sleeve credits "The Gramophone Company Ltd." whilst the out of date labels being used are "PARLOPHONE CO.LTD." credited). Extremely crisp sleeve, with no fadings/wear-throughs/writing/tears/nicks, a superbly crisp wavy top opening edge (rare like this!), with just a couple of light discolouration spots on the back above the right eye of the girl (not obvious at all!). Right hand/bottom edge tabs sleeve.
No SITUK text either side, N.C.B. credit both sides, Upper Case "PARLOPHONE" text rims both sides, NO embossed central tax code on either side, but a vertical (K above the T) tax code at 9 o'clock KT tax code on both sides (interestingly I have seen these referred to as Genuine original EMI solid Centres and the print of the tax codes (and lack of central tax code),and labels etc do incline to the original run period (Unlike the SITUK solid copies that are known to be of a later run of labels…), however EMI weren't pressing solid centres at this time…) 1 dot below the A-side matrix, 2 dots below the B-side matrix, as has been occasionally documented!

DEADWAX INFO/MATRICES ETC:
Side A:
7XCE  17559-1N                         . K T 11 ALD
Side B:
7XCE  17560-1N                        . . K T 2 MAT   ANY FURTHER QUESTIONS PLEASE DON'T HESITATE TO ASK!

PLEASE CONTACT ME ABOUT INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING IN ADVANCE TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT! SOME COUNTRIES COST ALOT!

I INSIST ON ITEMS OVER £30 BEING SENT INSURED, AT THE COST OF THE WINNING BIDDER, PLEASE WAIT FOR AN INVOICE IF THE ITEM GOES OVER £30, OR YOU REQUIRE IT TO BE SENT OVERSEAS, MANY THANKS!

I WILL OF COURSE MAKE COMBINED ITEM POSTAGE DISCOUNTS!

GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY BIDDING!

My Grading system:

Based on a slightly stricter version of the Record Collector, Rare Record Price Guide system.

I Don't believe in Mint, I almost only ever hear it from sellers who don't know the grading systems, therefore, you won't hear me using "MINT". If an Item is sealed I will state it as such, but still will only go as high as EX+.

EX+: Sealed, or seemingly NEVER played, if EX+ were to ever spill over to an item that may have been played a handful of times, but incredibly carefully, I will explain this thoroughly!

EX: The top end really, someone has very much cared for this record, else forgotten they've had it! Again only played with reverence, and not played much!

EX-: Very similar to EX, but slightly more realistic, many cared for collections may have a few EX- discs in them, though usually they'll be those James Last records your Auntie bought for you and (hopefully) you've never listened to since!

VG+: Again a very well looked after record, though with noticeable surface marks/hairlines when caught in the light, the worst one may hear is the lightest, very occasional background noise, often not even this on many players!

VG: Same as above, except more surface marks,  and a little more audio background noise, though certainly not detracting from the listening experience. A good playing copy for someone who buys to play the record.

VG-: A little worse, still very listenable, and plays though fine, though might not be the end of the world, if someone drunkenly adds a few more surface marks to it one night! Background noise will be there in some form!

G+: "Good" doesn't really mean good does it?! G+ means it still plays though, though someone in the room, un-used to records (and probably born when minidiscs were already a thing of the past!), will probably make a comment about the crackliness.

G: You won't want to use your best stylus on this one probably! We're definitely in "filler" territory now, unless it's a particularly rare copy, this is a party copy, you shouldn't mind when this one gets a scratch, (you might not even notice!).

G-: If crackling gives vinyl it's "warm" sound, then this one is beginning to become a fire hazard! The likelihood is you won't catch me selling a record at this condition or less, unless there really is special cause (rarity/signed/mispressed etc.). 

I often won't even grade things lower than a "decent playing copy" (VG-), though if they don't play through or are warped etc (even if they do play through), I will mention "JUMPS", "WARPED" etc. etc. either in the title, or near the beginning of the item's description, so there can be no doubt!

I endeavour to be as meticulous as possible when grading, and almost always play test the entirety of every LP and 7" I'm selling (often I make an MP3 back-up of it too... yes I know it's obsessive), but I'm sure one of these days I will overlook something, or someone will have reason to question my gradings (so far I have only had the honour of being told that I'm shooting myself in the foot by undergrading! If an honour, that is!), in which case please do contact me, and we will sort the issue out! 

Please check out my other rare punk/new wave/indie in my other items!

And I'll be listing loads more over the next few weeks so be sure to add me to your favourites list and check in regularly

Alittle about me!

I've collected records for about 20 years, and now have TONNES! I want to go travelling for as long as I can, and as such don't want to have too many possessions to have to store, I also need dosh to travel as freely as I'd like, and therefore selling the bulk of my collection seems the best of both worlds! I love records and will still keep buying them, I'm sure, but I really need to downsize in a big way! I do have some seriously RARE records to list over the next few months, and will price them to sell, so please do watch this space!

And if you're at all unsure, please check my previous feedback for tales of satisfied customers, many of whom return again and again!!

I will of course, if you aren't ENTIRELY happy with your item offer you a full refund upon a quick return of the item, in exactly the same condition I sent it out in, I wont however cover the postage costs- just in order to put off any time-wasters, I hope you understand. I do have here some REAL MEGA-RARITIES, and I understand perhaps your confidence in me might not be complete, as I haven't listed for a while, which is why I offer this offer of full re-embursment. However I am not a fan of the trend of people trying it on and asking to keep the item but want a partial re-fund, I haven't had it happen to me, and want to keep it that way, so please don't try that, I will happily offer your full winning bid money back upon the safe return of the item, and I think that's fair. 

I am very strict with my grading, having been a collector myself for many years, and I try to include as much relavent information as possible on sales, however if you have any further questions please don't hesitate to ask, I will gladly resond as soon as I can.

One thing I would ask is that the winning bidders do leave feedback, as it's annoying when people overlook it.

I happily offer reductions of postage costs on multiple-items, 

I try grade using direct sunlight which shows up more than anything (hence where poss I take my photos in direct sunlight too), however living in the Pennine Hills, contrary to popular rumour it isn't sunny here EVERY day! So when this isn't always possible, as a backup I also use a 100 Watt lightbulb, though when poss I try to use both.

I feel my grading system is stricter than many I see used, but the sellers I respect on Ebay and elsewhere seem to be of the same mind as me, I'd much prefer to be known as someone who undergrades and you can get a good record from, than someone you have to wonder, "actually is their VG+ quite what I'd expect from that?". Hope I can win you over! 

(SOMETIMES I MAY COME ACROSS A RECORD OF SIGNIFFICANT RARITY/DESIRABILITY THAT MAY HAVE A JUMP/STICK IN IT. IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT THAT I THINK SOMEONE MAY WANT IT (EG. IT'S COVER'S IN GOOD NICK, OR IT'S A PRIVATE PRESSING/PROMO OF LIMITED AVAILABILITY) I'LL CLEARLY MARK THIS IN THE TITLE "JUMPS" OR "WARPED" ETC.)

Good luck and Happy Bidding! Loads more punk/new wave etc. etc. every genre really to come over the next 2 months! so...

River.Dog.