Prince 26 promo picture sleeves Gotta Stop, Soft Wet, Corvette, 1999. NO VINYL

$

122

PLEASE LOOK CLOSELY AT THE PICTURES. Some of these are damaged!

These were all made to resemble, and in most cases function as, picture sleeves for 7” Prince 45rpm records. They were created in the 80s and 90s for promotion and were used at some US Sound Warehouse records stores. But none were ever meant to be sold, as far as I know. They are not considered official. I acquired these as part of a large collection in August 1997 in Memphis which included all these, as well as display stands and posters, and a small record collection too.  But this is for sleeves only, NO RECORDS

There are different types of promo material here. First the 3 odd ones:

1. Raspberry Beret – only the front of the sleeve—just one sheet, white back.

2. I Would Die 4 U-- Sleeve in 2 pieces, front and back not glued together

3. Dirty Mind (color)-- a “flat”. Exactly the same as an album flat but approximately 7”x7”. The back is blank/white. It is on thicker paper.

Then several badly damaged, but still fully functional, picture sleeves that will hold a record

4. Soft and Wet—The back of this one looks great, the front has a super high gloss and writing on sleeve “1978”. Usually “high gloss” is not a bad thing, but the front of this sleeve seems to have had issues during that process. I tried to sell this a while back with a Soft/Wet single I bought separately, but decided to keep the 45.

5. Gold-- Back of sleeve looks great and front has nice gloss but one corner has weird imperfection.. maybe sticker residue? Not sure. (No record of an official sleeve for Gold exists)

6. Dinner With Deloris—back of sleeve is nice, front is terrible. Spill damage? Also, this 45 never came out on vinyl, so the sleeve is especially odd. Says promo. This one and Batdance look like maybe they were stuck to each other and peeled apart? Maybe water damage?

7. Batdance—along with Dinner with Deloris, terrible condition. The front seems like it had something serious spilled on it at some point. Still, no seam splits on any of these.

8. Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad—Not too bad really. Front has some minor discoloration. Back says “Made in Greece”

9. Thieves in the Temple—Except for a dark smudge or stray hit of black spray paint(?) on the front, this is in very good condition, especially the back

10. Purple Medley—seems like ok condition. Dark. (No record of an official Purple Medley sleeve exist for 7")

The next 3 are on a thinner paper than the rest.

11. Scandalous—excellent condition, just feels a bit flimsy. This has a different picture than the regular release and says promo use on back

12. Just As Long As We’re Together-- Promotional use only. Other than feeling like cheap paper, good condition.

13. High Fashion by The Family—Again, a promo on cheap thin paper, in basically good condition.

The remaining are all on paper about the same thickness of a promo flat. In fact, they basically are promo flats, centerfolded. (They fit in a clear sleeve, so they are totally functional as sleeves for records). These are all in excellent, near mint unused condition. They may have been created for store display, but these show no pinholes or tape residue. I think these are all unused.

14. High Fashion by The Family—Looks great. Much better than the identical paper sleeve in this same lot

15. Thieves in the Temple---totally different sleeve to the other one with the “smudge”. This is in fine condition but the back is just not good print quality. Blurry. Off.-- has Japanese writing.

16. Let’s Work/Ronnie Talk To Russia—Excellent condition. Meant to replicate a real life sleeve, but the back cover is different with the weird wrong Controversy pic.

17. Bambi/Still Waiting-- condition is ok. Some little dings on front. Made to look like a color version of the version from Belgium (I think)

18. Glam Slam—Great condition. This is made to look like the French release on the front but the Japanese release on the back? I think.

19. Dirty Mind---Beautiful condition. Looks just like the album cover, but with red letters. Back also mimics the album’s style. I think there is a small pen mark on this.

20.Kiss--- Excellent condition, slightly different pic than regular release

21. Purple Rain--- Excellent condition, slightly different pic than regular release

22. When Doves Cry--- Excellent condition, has Japanese writing.

23. 1999--- Excellent condition, has Japanese writing.

24. I Wanna Be Your Lover/Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad---great condition. This was a back to back hit release that never included a picture sleeve that I know of.

25. Little Red Corvette/All the Critics Love U in NY-- great condition. Similar to an official release, but not

26. Gotta Stop --- This one is an actual stand alone functional picture sleeve on a sturdy weight thin cardboard. Excellent condition. But probably made specifically for promotion, not for sale officially.

So that's it. I know a handful of "collectors" will freak out about things they have never seen and call them fake or counterfeit or bootleg or whatever. I do not really know they're story before 1997 when I bought them, but based on everything else in the collection, they were used in store display at Sound Warehouse in the late 80s and 90s. Many do not appear on Discogs or PrinceVault or Sleevographia. These are NOT on the radar and are not considered officially released. If you are the type of collector who doesn't want bootlegs or unofficial, uncirculated to the general public releases, this is NOT for you. I really want this to go to a FAN, someone who loves Prince as I do. Kinda sick of those who buy everything Prince up just to resell it to screw over fans. My starting bid is less than $2 per item. Please only bid if you want this lot.