LED ZEPPELIN III SCARCE UK 1970 ATLANTIC 'PLUM' EX LP. PLAYS WELL, LOVELY COVER.

	£		145
	$		192

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Postage: UK £4.75 (£1 per extra record). Europe (including Russia) £12.50 (£2 per extra record). Rest of World (including ALL parts of the USA) £16.50 (£3 per extra record). All boxes signed for in quality, safe packaging – I NEVER use mailing envelopes that offer virtually no protection at all, and records WILL arrive damaged in them at some time as most record buyers will already know. Here, you get what you pay for – SAFE PACKING in BOXES using 7mm DOUBLE-WALL STIFFENERS including full side protection and bubble wrap, the records removed from the covers of course. All this very safe packing means I lose money on every box I post, but safe delivery is, and will always be paramount. You WILL see the difference when my packet arrives. Also, I will pay for insurance on any record that sells for over £100 at NO extra cost – that is UK and abroad. Also I aim to post the very same day after payment is received if possible. PLEASE NOTE: I will NOT send any item, no matter what its value without a Royal Mail or courier tracking number. ALL my items must be signed and trackable to comply with Ebay delivery rules. Please do NOT ask me to make any exceptions to this rule as no country offers 100% reliable service without it.

Posting to Russia: Yes, I do post to Russia. But delivery can take longer from the UK. So please be patient. I will submit a tracking number to the winning bidder, and when the packet arrives there it can be followed online using the Russian post website.

ALSO: I now apply the Ebay ‘2-day’ rule for non-payment to keep things moving – cash-flow is important for any small business.

ANY ITEM or ITEMS TO BE PAID WITHIN A MAXIMUM OF 6 DAYS or they will be cancelled – NO EXCEPTIONS.

FINALLY: Late payers, non-payers and ‘0’ bidders will now be blocked or cancelled at my discretion, as will any bidder who cancels a bid. Please only bid on my items if you want them.

Artist or Band: LED ZEPPELIN

Album Title: Led Zeppelin III

Producer(s): Jimmy Page [Executive Producer: Peter Grant].

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Immigrant Song; Friends; Celebration; Since I’ve Been Loving You; Out on the Tiles.

Side 2: Gallows Pole; Tangerine; That’s the Way; Bron-y-aur Stomp; Hats Off to (Roy) Harper .

Label/Format: Atlantic – Red and Maroon (‘Plum’) format with matt surfaces that have gentle fine texturing.

Label Condition: Both fresh, clean and attractive with any spindle marks very small, light and faint.

Catalogue Number: 2401002

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Warps: Few vintage records are ever perfectly ‘flat’, so some slight or very gentle arm movement is normal. If any record I offer has more than that, I will mention it, and it can be assumed all I offer should track without issues, even on budget turntables.

Weight of this Record: 119 grams.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity & Overview: Moderately scarce on the ‘Plum’ format, especially so in better conditions.

Original Year of Release: 1970

Matrix Nos: 2401002 A-5 1 1 1 2 & 2401002 B//6 420 1 2 1

Run-Out Groove Etched Messages: ‘Do what thou wilt’ ‘GHC’ [on side one]

Musicians: Jimmy Page – Robert Plant – John Bonham – John Paul Jones.

Brief Info: A masterful third release – arguably and unfairly overshadowed by I, II and IV. This a more varied album with more use of acoustic instruments than previously. A wonderful set with it’s beautiful moving wheel packaging that was designed by ‘Zacron’ (Visual Creations). A graphic artist of the London scene of the 1960s. His logo is seen on the inside bottom right corner area. Again peaking at No. 1 in the UK and US, this band could do little wrong at this time. This a very fine example on the slightly later Plum label variant, also a full English copy, some covers were manufactured in Germany for the UK market. This one of the few ‘Plum’ copies I have seen with no etching on side two. This copy plays impressively, half-a-dozen clicks on ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’ (these mostly quite light and obscured by sound), but little else, this was a joy to play-grade and few early copies will escape with much less these days. The wheel cover is impressive also as-seen.

Cover Condition and Details: EXCELLENT: and arguably better still. A fully laminated gatefold format with the moving wheel and 11 die-cut windows on front. Printed and made in England by the E. J. Day Group, includes the Polydor-style date-coded inner sleeve.

Cover Lamination – Front & Back: Even though this cover is fully laminated, if often ages badly. All 11 circle windows are crisp and neat with no burring or damage. The wheel rotates very easily and freely, this with neat sealed edges, the centre areas naturally open. Many of these come apart over time, but this fragile area is superb. The laminate itself retains excellent shine, clarity and freshness and with near perfect adhesion. These often have heavy manufactured creasing where the laminate has not been applied flat, that is very common, but when avoided (as here), the cover looks way better. Indeed this is one of very few I have seen with no adhesion issues at all, even lifting has been avoided. Overall, this has remained white with any hint of edge toning that many also often suffer, gentle and light on the edges of the back. There are very few marks and only a light crease on the back near the bottom edge. These outer faces are amongst the best I have seen in ages.

Cover Gatefold Inner: A little darkening to the left face, but little else to fault on either side.

Top Edges: Straight and still neat, with minimal hint of any thickening. The centre is naturally open to allow the wheel to rotate more freely.

Bottom Edges: Pretty much as above.

Right Edge(s), and Type: The front closed wheel edge is superb and almost totally unworn with a closed folded laminated edge. Both inside and out, the recess for the wheel rim is sharp and crisp, the wheel revolves effortlessly and smooth. Its rim also crisp and unthickened. The back entrance has a little thickening to the inner edge near the wheel rim seen viewed end-on. Elsewhere, little and light, all are guaranteed untrimmed or enhanced.

Spine and Text: Very solid, thick, straight with minimal compression, slight tilt to left being critical. All text perfect under solid clear laminate, this with no scuffs or peeling. A gentle natural centre ridge from opening, but with minimal text sinkage. As-seen, all is still easy to read. The lack of peeling or laminate loosening is always good news on this cover, and somewhat unusual.

Corners: Any tip rubbing tiny and light, hardly any really. Excellent or better shape is retained, any creasing light with no heavy knocks.

Cover Summary: A deceptively difficult cover, often with many laminate issues and ageing. But this one has hardly any and this makes a huge difference for attractive appearance. This should please many collectors.

The Inner Sleeve: EXCELLENT(–): the Polydor-style lined inner has gently aged with light discolouration near the edges and a little corner creasing to a couple, all edges unsplit and no repairs. The lining is clear and solid as seen through two neat untorn window circles. This one is date-code 1271 (December 1971) which makes it one of the last copies pressed on the ‘Plum’ format label.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT: or close to. There is a surface scuff on side one that does nothing. A micro style mark that emits half-a-dozen or so quite light clicks on ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’ mentioned above, but little else anywhere – this record plays impressively. A mark that follows a groove on side two also does nothing, this most likely in manufacture and hardly unusual. Still a very fine visual copy that is very clean with equally fine shine and quite solidly pressed. A copy with light plays on all the evidence with any actual surface traces (bar the scuff) very light and faint as seen critically under bright light. Viewed in average room light, little else registers. Visually a nice record that should please many collectors, but not for the absolute purists.

Album Played For Grading: Yes. [I play ALL records I offer before submitting to Ebay, also the record is played in its entirety unless clearly stated otherwise. I do NOT play snippets or joining grooves to check for sound quality and quietness – I play from the beginning to end via clinically revealing equipment, all listed further down.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This classic album plays even above it’s high visual grading with little to fault bar those six or so clicks already mentioned – and even these are quite masked by the song’s music. Offering strong, distortion-free sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear – sound quality is very high with a wide dynamic range and very detailed sound. Any actual surface sounds are minimal indeed and this is a very clean pressing with no tracking issues*. Few available copies will outperform this late ‘Plum’ pressing significantly I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain this record has been played very lightly and has been generally well stored, almost certainly in a non-smoking environment. Little spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful album. It could prove difficult to find significantly better and can be strongly recommended.

* As played-graded on a high-end Linn LP12 Sondek turntable with Ittok Mk II arm and Ortofon Quintet Black moving coil cartridge tracking at 2 grams. Records are a ‘contact’ format, and few will avoid the odd minor sound blemish.

I am one of the most established sellers on Ebay, trading since 2001 and offering the finest records I can find. I pride myself on offering a variety of genres to keep my site as interesting as possible. I will rarely offer any record that falls below a true Excellent grading, unless its of a certain rarity which will justify offering a lesser grade. I try, to the best of my ability to describe as accurately and as honesty all elements of the items I offer for sale. You may notice I only submit records quite sparingly on Ebay as I Play-Grade every record I offer in their entirety – also on higher-end equipment – not just bits to guess a grade – visuals alone do not always tell a true story. I will try to mention any defects or flaws no matter how small that I notice to be fair as possible to any interested collector – I am very fussy and my buyers have the right to be too. Every record I offer, whether it be a common or rare item deserves the same respect as far as I am concerned and will be treated the same – just because an item is rare does not always mean it’s good. I get just as much pleasure offering a relatively common record in near mint condition as the real rare items. All the pictures I use for your guidance are the item being offered with no digital enhancements. Room light factors can make things vary sometimes, that is hard to control, especially in winter. I hope the item below is to your liking – any questions can be emailed and I will do my best to answer you. I am enthusiastic, and have a fair degree of knowledge about many genres and I promise quality items. Please assume all records I offer have NO jumps, sticks, major warps or writing on covers or labels unless clearly stated to the contrary. Thanks for your interest and Good luck – MIKE.

Deck: Linn LP12/Hercules/Cirkus with Ittok Mk II arm and Ortofon Quintet Black moving coil cartridge (tracks at 2 grams). Amps: Naim Supernait 2 with Project USB phono stage and Tellerium Black interconnects. Speakers: B&W 805 Nautilus (bi-wired with Tellurium Black terminated cable) with REL subwoofer. All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional Nessie vacuum machine before play-grading for the cleanest and best possible sound and will include a brand new lined inner and protective cover too. Pictures taken with a Nikon D7500 DSLR Camera.

PACKING – THIS IS WHAT YOU GET.

What You Get: To confirm to the strict Ebay rules on shipping, I must now send ALL my packets ‘Signed-For’ with NO exceptions. Both buyers and sellers want their packets to have a safer journey and this is not a bad thing.

PLEASE NOTE: I now exercise my right to open a dispute after the Ebay rule of TWO days if no payment is received. I will then cancel the dispute to end the bid, again after the mandatory FOUR days and then offer the item to the runner-up or relist. The non-payer will also be blocked from my Ebay site as will any suspicious bids or bid bid retractions. Small businesses need prompt payment to trade and these strict rules WILL be applied.

SHIPPING COSTS & CONDITIONS – THESE comply with EBAY’S RULES - PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:

Posting & Packing: UK & CHANNEL ISLANDS all now sent via Recorded Delivery:

1 LP (FIRST-CLASS Recorded Delivery with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) [Signed For] = £4.75

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £7.50. (this includes insurance of £500). Add £1 per extra LP.

Posting & Packing: EUROPE & SCANDINAVIA. (Airmail Only):

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with Standard Royal Mail Insurance [£50 maximum]) = £12.50 (enhanced Royal Mail insurance is an optional extra £3). Add £2 per extra LP.

Posting & Packing: ALL OVERSEAS (non-European) e.g. USA (ANY PART OF); South America; New Zealand; Australia; Canada; Japan and other Far East; (Airmail Only: I NEVER use Surface Mail):

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with Standard Royal Mail Insurance [£50 maximum]) = £16.50 (£17.50 for double sets). Add £3 per extra LP. (enhanced Royal Mail insurance is an optional extra £3)

Payment Conditions:

I prefer PayPal or cheque from UK winning bidders. I only accept PayPal from overseas bidders or direct payment into my bank account.

Potential Bidders: I will cancel any bids I feel are time-wasters. A maximum 2 days for communication and 7 days for payment to arrive – if not I will relist the item or offer to the runner-up.

My Guarantee: If any winning bidder is not satisfied with their purchase I will offer a complete refund if the item is returned in the same condition is was sent e.g. as per the listing pictures.

SOME GENERAL GUIDES TO WEAR AND CONDITIONS TO HELP YOU DECIDE

My Use of Description Terminology: Surface Marks = Superficial, usually light marks, hairlines or light scuffs that rarely sound. Scratch = a needle mark that goes below the record’s surface, some will sound, some will not, my play-grade will inform. Original = a record that has been pressed with the first label design which does NOT necessarily mean a very first pressed record. First Pressing = A record that I believe or know to be a genuine very first pressed record. I do not claim to always know for sure, and that’s why I state the stamper and matrix numbers if at all possible, for those who claim to know what they all mean, the information is there for the collector to decide. I prefer to use terms like ‘Early Copy’ rather than ‘First Pressing’ if I am not totally sure. Surface Sound = Mild, light sound, usually light crackle or similar. Distortion = Break up of the actual sound caused by groove wear or damage from a chipped stylus – the most undesirable form of unwanted sound, vintage mono records were the most prone to this happening but not exclusively so. The symptoms of distortion are high frequency clipping, moderate constant crackle or an echo type sound quality. Violin, piano and vocals are most prone to groove-wear distortion. Feathering = Fraying or softening of the entry edge of a cover. Covers with feathered entrance edges are more likely to have had the actual record inserted and removed more than a non-feathered, sharp-edged cover which are always far more attractive. Set Off, a printer’s term for dark ink leaving mild residue on pale or white ink when rested upon. e.g. when a gatefold cover has black ink closed against white, this can leave some black residue on the pale area – this is mostly unavoidable or course.