1ST PRESS Please Please Me - Beatles Gold Label UK Mono Dick James 1G & 1R Stamp

	£		753
	$		998

Condition report on vinyl side 2

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Condition report on vinyl side 1

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Condition Report on sleeve

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The is a very rare first pressing of The Beatles debut album ‘Please Please Me’ and it is famously one of the rarest and most sought after records in the world. 

I will be listing this with no reserve and a £1.00 start price. This is a unique opportunity to buy a seriously rare piece of Beatles vinyl and i will leave it to the market to decide the true value so get involved and get bidding.

Initially released in extremely small numbers from 22nd March 1963, before the more commonly found black and yellow labels were issued only a couple of months later. This has resulted in making it one of the most sought after vinyls in existence by record collectors and Beatles fans.

What makes this particular copy important is the stampers at 9.00 and 3.00 which are 1/G & 1/R and to anybody familiar with mother stampers, this is pretty much as low as you will get.

So both sides are pressed from the earliest mother and side 1 from the very first stamper and side 2 from the 2nd stamper and when you think how many of this record were made, this could well be one of the first ever pressed which is mind blowing

So this record is made from the first mother and side 1 is the first stamper and side 2 is the 2nd stamper. I think i'm right i  saying that it's 300 pressed per stamper so this is one of the first 600 ever made, which is mind blowing when you think how many millions have been pressed!

Parlophone Decoding

Laquers make Masters which in turn produce Mothers which then create Stampers. So for your Parlophone records, the Master is the matrix at the 6 o'clock position, the Mother is the number etched in the deadwax at the 9 o'clock location and the Stamper is identified by the letter(s) etched at the 3 o'clock postion. For the 3 o'clock position, Parlophone use the following coding: G R A M O P H L T D (Gramophone Ltd) where G=1, R=2, A=3, M=4, O=5, P=6, H=7, L=8, T=9 and D=0. Therefore, many times you will see more then one letter etched in the dead wax in the Stamper location (3 o'clock). For example, if "MM" is etched, it means the record was pressed with the 44th stamper. The ultimate early pressing of any Beatle Parlophone LP would be denoted with the codes 1/G 1/G (side 1 and side 2), where the "1" represents the first Mother (9 o'clock) and the "G" denotes the first Stamper (3 o'clock) or one of the first 300 off the press!

Matrix numbers on run-out groove:

Matrix side 1: XEX 421-1N

Matrix side 2:XEX 422-1N

Stampers:

Side 1 - 1/G

Side 2 - 1/R

Catalog number:

Mono - PMC 1202

Record label:

Parlophone

EMI

Made in Great Britain

12" vinyl

Vinyl weight: 149g

Condition:

The Vinyl - VG - Video link included below displaying the vinyl as well as a demonstration of play.

Both sides have some obvious marks. Feelable mark side 1 track 1 (See Images) and lots of light scratches/scuffs. Side 2 has a very light scratch over track 1, a light scratch you can feel starting end of track 3 and running through to end of track 6 and then the usual light surface scratches/scuffs but nothing serious.

It is a thick pressing and still has a decent shine to it with no warping. The black and gold inner labels are in great condition, with some spindle wear. The tax code can just about be seen on side 2, at least the "T" can be at around 11.00

The Cover

Firstly this is the first pressing cover denoted by the positioning of "Angus Bean" bottom right corner.

The cover as seen better days in all honesty. It is all there with no major damage but i would grade it VG but bordering G+. Bottom left corner is rounded and creased but the spine is clear and fully in tact with little wear to it other than top and bottom corners. Top seam is pretty good with just a few nicks to the laminate, bottom seem has more cracking and splitting (See the attached video link).

The Inner

The record comes with the original first press inner sleeve that reads: “Important - take good care of your microgroove records”, and has a polythene lining. It shows some slight discolouration and creasing around its corners, but has no tears or seam splits.

Bid with confidence. 100% seller rating over eleven years of sales. Return for a refund if not 100% satisfied.

Track listing

I Saw Her Standing There, 2. Misery, 3. Anna, 4. Chains, 5. Boys, 6. Ask Me Why, 7. Please Please Me

Side Two;

Love Love Me Do, 2. P.S. I Love You, 3. Baby It’s You, 4. Do You Want To Know A Secret, 5. A Taste Of Honey, 6. There’s A Place, 7. Twist And Shout

Rarity and Identification

The first UK pressing of Please Please Me is famously one of the rarest records in the world. With very small numbers having ever been printed, very few remain today that don’t display serious wear to the vinyl.

The 1st UK pressings can be identified by four tracks on the vinyl label - ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ & ‘Misery’ on side one, and ‘Do You Want To Know A Secret’ & ‘There’s A Place’ on side two. These were incorrectly credited to ‘Dick James Mus. Co’, before being corrected to“Northern Songs Ltd” for the black and yellow label pressings that followed shortly after.

Another point of identification is a photo credit to Angus McBean on the bottom right of the front cover. The alignment is positioned in such a way that the statement “Photo: Angus McBean” begins beneath the ‘S’ of the above statement ‘and 12 other songs”. In later pressing this statement was repositioned further to the left, aligning underneath the ‘g’.

Other features of the first pressing include a 33 1/3 text next to the catalog number, "The Parlophone Co. Ltd." printed on the rim print and MT Tax credits. Later pressings display the statements "Recording first published 1963", and "Sold in the U.K.", which are not present on this record. All of the above points confirm that this is the original 1963 1st ever black and gold label.

Please study all the images very carefully as they form an important part of the description.