Beatles UK - Sgt Pepper's ‘Fourth Proof’ Mono LP.

	£		81
	$		107

Beatles UK - Sgt Pepper's ‘Fourth Proof’ Mono LP.

PMC 7027 – original Black and Yellow Parlophone labels.

An original UK pressing featuring the rarest known variants of this remarkable album.

This unique version of this album was effectively a pre production sleeve, the first, three ‘proof’ sleeves never saw the light of day, this ‘Fourth Proof’ sleeve was passed around for final agreement. Never meant to be released, but a number of these sleeves did find their way into the public market !. As these were ‘proof’ sleeve copies they should have NEVER have left the printers.

There are a number of unique differences from the final production sleeve:

1. printed ‘Fourth Proof’, ‘AR’ and ‘D 13217’ text printed on the top flipback on the inner gatefold of the sleeve. There is a story about this, the old style of ‘visual’ flipbacks were on the way out and the sleeve for the latest Beatles LP, Sgt Pepper was to feature the new ‘hidden inner’ flipback design, therefore it was thought that the above text would NOT be seen. Apparently the ‘AR’ stands for the designers initials and the ‘D 13217’  is the internal catalogue number for the printers of the sleeve, ‘Garrod and Lofthouse’.

2. The rear of the sleeve features the text ‘Printed and made by Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd Patents Pending’,  it is only a very small number of very early Pepper Mono sleeves that have this additional text, ‘Patents Pending’. The sleeve normally just states ‘Printed and made by Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd’ (G&L). By the time of the official launch of Sgt Pepper in June 1967, G&L had got their ‘Patents’ confirmed and this text ‘Patents Pending’ was removed from the rear of the sleeve.  

3. Georges jacket is Pink instead of Red, as on the standard sleeves,

4. Johns jacket is Yellow instead of Green, as on the standard sleeves.

CONDITION:

THE MAIN SLEEVE: is in very good+ condition, the sleeve is fully laminated. The spine is in very good condition, it is strong and complete, there is some rubbing to the spine, most of the text on the spine is readable. When the gatefold sleeve is opened the original exposed top two flipbacks can be seen. Theres NO tears, stains, splits, pen writing, stickers or sticker residue. There is a little laminate lift to the rear bottom right corner.    

THE CARD INSERT:  the green cardboard cut-out is not present.

THE INNER SLEEVE: is in very good condition and is the original wavy pattern red and white sleeve. Theres NO pen writing, stickers or sticker residue on it. There is a slight water mark to one of the top corners and some small tears to one side of the opening edges. The two side edges have splits.

THE VINYL: is in very good condition, it is made from the period ‘thick’, heavy vinyl, it has remained dark and glossy.

The matrix is:   XEX 637-1 and XEX 638-1 and the mother / stampers are:    ‘ 4    R T P ’ and  ‘ 2   R A M ’.     

THE LABELS: side one, the label would have been graded as in excellent condition but there is a sticker on the label on side one, see photo, so I will grade this label as in very good condition. Side two, the label is in excellent condition. There are the letters ‘K T’ embossed around the spindle hole on side one. Apart from the ‘sticky label’ stuck onto side one, the labels are free from any other stickers or sticker residue.  The labels are free from any pen writing.

TO GRADE THE CONDITION OF THE RECORD I AM USING THE OFFICIAL GRADING SYSTEM FROM THE ‘RECORD COLLECTOR’ MAGAZINE.

PLEASE WAIT UNTIL I SEND YOU AN INVOICE BEFORE YOU SEND PAYMENT.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF SALE.

ALL PHOTOS AND RECORD DESCRIPTIONS ARE MY OWN AND ARE ALWAYS OF THE ACTUAL RECORD FOR SALE.

PLEASE ENSURE THAT ALL ITEMS ARE PAID FOR BY AT LEAST ONE WEEK FROM THE END OF THE AUCTION.

‘PICK UP’ OF ITEMS CAN BE ARRANGED BUT THE BUYER MUST PAY CASH ON COLLECTION.

POSTAGE AND PACKING.

ALL RECORDS POSTED TO A UK ADDRESS WILL BE SENT 1ST CLASS POST.

PACKING  -  ALL RECORDS ARE POSTED WITH MULTI LAYERED CARD STIFFENERS FOR PROTECTION.

BEFORE POSTING, THE RECORD IS REMOVED FROM THE RECORDS ORIGINAL INNER AND OUTER SLEEVES, THE RECORD IS THEN PUT INTO A SECOND PAPER INNER SLEEVE TO MINIMISE ANY DAMAGE THAT MAY OCCUR WHILE IN TRANSIT. THE RECORD / SLEEVES ARE THEN PUT INTO A NEW PLASTIC SLEEVE FOR FURTHER PROTECTION.

DISCOUNT WILL BE GIVEN ON POSTAGE FOR MULTIPLE PURCHASES.

IN THE UK – RECORDS THAT SELL FOR OVER THE VALUE OF £45 WILL BE SENT ‘RECORDED DELIVERY’ AND THERE MAYBE AN ADDITIONAL COST FOR INSURANCE AS THE SELLER HAS NO PROTECTION IF THE ITEM GOES MISSING IN THE POST, THEREFORE POST AND PACKING CHARGES MAY VARY.

I WILL BE HAPPY TO SEND RECORDS ANYWHERE OVERSEAS.

ALL RECORDS THAT ARE POSTED OVERSEAS WILL BE SENT ‘RECORDED DELIVERY’ AND THERE MAYBE AN ADDITIONAL COST FOR INSURANCE AS THE SELLER HAS NO PROTECTION IF THE ITEM GOES MISSING IN THE POST, THEREFORE POST AND PACKING CHARGES MAY VARY.

IN NON EU COUNTRY’S AN ‘IMPORT TAX’ AND A COURIERS ‘CLEARANCE FEE’ MAY NEED TO BE PAID, THIS IS DOWN TO THE BUYER TO PAY THESE FEES.

THEREFORE PLEASE WAIT UNTIL I SEND YOU AN INVOICE BEFORE YOU SEND PAYMENT.

SEE MY OTHER ITEMS FOR SALE.