The Beatle White Album. 1st Press. Top Loading. No 0518261. Excellent Vinyl

	£		44
	$		58

THE WHITE ALBUM

TOP OPENING FIRST PRESS

NUMBERED SLEEVE: 0518261

EXCELLENT VINYL

FIRST STEREO GIFTED BY AN ABBEY ROAD ENGINEER IN 1968 

Stereo PCS 7067- 8

This is an Original and rare Numbered copy of the Beatles White Album, being No 0518261.

It is Top Opening and with its original EMI Black Inner Sleeves.

It is in Stereo and with superb vinyl, which I would grade as Excellent. It has little in the way of surface marks on any of the four sides and barely noticeable spindle rubs on any of the records. This has been played, but very little! It is one of the best looking White Albums I have seen, with heavy gauage EMI vinyl, dark and with its original sheen and of course, being a First Press, it has the deep green Apple Labels, too.

As stated, this is Top Opening, Numbered and a First Press, with Mother & Stampers as:

Side One Mother '4' & Stamper 'HH' or '77', Side Two Mother '4' & Stamper 'GMO' or '145', Side Three 'Mother '3' & Stamper 'HL' corrected from 'TL', being '78' and Side Four Mother '1' & 'Stamper 'GDG' or '101'.

I bought this LP from a man whose wife was given it by an Abbey Road Studio Engineer as a rarity being Stereo, as Mono was the normal mode, with Stereo usually being order only tihin the record shops and whilst it is not a factory sample, it is nice to know that it actually came from the famous Abbey Road Studio in 1968.

The Garrod & Lofthouse fully laminated Gatefold Sleeve is showing the usual signs of discolouration, with the white ageing gently to a cream and with the full laminate, displaying odd signs of spine wrinkling and creasing and some corner wear, with just one repaired small top spine-split, which is now secure, as can be seen in the photos.

It has the black soft central dye cut original EMI inner sleeves, which have the usual signs of 'down-tears' in the central cut-out. This ALWAYS happened, as the vinyl was inevitably put back into the inner sleeve, through the outer sleeve, being a Top-Opener and this just caused the bottom edge of the record, being razor sharp, to plunge into the soft black paper as the disc went down! Theses have been sympathetically repaired, with discreet, thin ribbons of black paper, stuck with water based glue-stick, inside the centres. The end result, I think, is absolutely fine and preserves the origianl black EMI inners, which make this a highly collectable album.

 Obviously, grading is subjective and I am not a dealer, collector or trader, just a vinyl fan and listener myself. Any grading I do is based on what I can see and hear and with the Record Collector's Guide in mind, too. I would honestly say that this rates as Excellent, maybe better. Please see the guide, below.

I will only sell to and post to the UK and the record being valued at over £50, will only be sent First Class Guaranteed Next Day Delivery.

Many thanks.    

MINT: The record itself is in brand new condition with no surface marks or deterioration in sound quality. The cover and any extra items such as the lyric sheet, booklet or poster are in perfect condition. Records advertised as Sealed or Unplayed should be Mint.

EXCELLENT: The record shows some signs of having been played, but there is very little lessening in sound quality. The cover and packaging might have slight wear and / or creasing.

VERY GOOD: The record has obviously been played many times, but displays no major deterioration in sound quality, despite noticeable surface marks and the occasional light scratch. Normal wear and tear on the cover or extra items, without any major defects, is acceptable.

GOOD: The record has been played so much that the sound quality has noticeably deteriorated, perhaps with some distortion and mild scratches. The cover and contents suffer from folding, scuffing of edges, spine splits, discolouration, etc.

FAIR: The record is still just playable but has not been cared for properly and displays considerable surface noise; it may even jump. The cover and contents will be torn, stained and / or defaced.

POOR: The record will not play properly due to scratches, bad surface noise, etc. The cover and contents will be badly damaged or partly missing.

BAD: The record is unplayable or might even be broken, and is only of use as a collection filler."

As well as the above grades, Near Mint is often used as well; this is really for a record that appears new but is known to have been played because the label has light spindle marks or because it has come from a previous owner and is assumed to have been played by them. For records which appear to fall between the accepted grades, + and - are also often added to the grading.

In addition to the basic grading, any individual faults should be noted separately such as if an otherwise Excellent cover has a name written on it, or a 7" single is missing its original centre etc.

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