THE BEATLES Collection 1978 PARLOPHONE BC 13 BOX SET MINT

	£		175
	$		232

On offer here is a VERY rare Box Set (especially in this condition!!!!) by The Beatles called "The Beatles Collection" and is an ORIGINAL 1978 UK 1st Pressing on the 1st Press Parlophone label!!!!  THIS BOX SET IS SERIOUSLY RARE AND VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND!!!!  THIS IS ONE OF THE ALL TIME RAREST BEATLES RELEASES - AND VIRTUALLY NEVER TURNS UP FOR SALE!!!!  JUST TRY AND FIND ANOTHER ONE!!!!  BACK IN 1978 WHEN THIS BOX SET WAS FIRST RELEASED - IT ONLY EVER SOLD IN ABSOLUTELY TINY AMOUNTS, AS IT COST A VERY LARGE AMOUNT TO BUY AT THE TIME (OVER £50 IN 1978!)!!!!  THEREFORE SALES WERE TINY - AND AS A RESULT IT IS SERIOUSLY RARE AND INCREDIBLY HARD TO LOCATE TODAY!!!!  NOT ONLY THAT BUT THIS BOX SET IS IN ABSOLUTELY AWESOME CONDITION - AND HAS BARELY BEEN PLAYED AT ALL (I WILL CLEARLY DETAIL THIS BELOW - MOST OF THE LPs IN THIS BOX SET ARE UNPLAYED!!!!  JUST TAKE A LOOK AT THE PICTURES!!!!  THIS IS THE ORIGINAL 1978 UK 1ST PRESSING ON THE 1ST PRESS PARLOPHONE LABEL, 1ST PRESS 13 LPs (ALL OF THE BEATLES 12 LPs + THE EXTRA 'RARITIES' LP!) 1ST PRESS INNER SLEEVES, AND 1ST PRESS COVERS!!!!  THE 'RARITIES' LP IS ALSO CLEARLY ORIGINAL TO THIS SET (MANY GET SWOPPED!) AS IT HAS 'SAMPLER LP - NOT FOR SALE' IN GOLD PRINT ON THE REVERSE OF THAT COVER!!!!  THIS BOX SET IS SERIOUSLY RARE AND VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND LIKE THIS - SO DONT MISS OUT ON THIS AMAZING OPPORTUNITY!!!!  This is the ORIGINAL Parlophone UK 1st Pressing from 1978 and is in AWESOME condition!!!!  The record is pressed on THICK quality vinyl.  The Cat. No is BC 13 on the ORIGINAL 1st Press Parlophone Label (see picture) and is a UK Stereo 1st Pressing!!!!  

Of course, I cannot describe this Box Set like a normal LP (as there would be WAY too much to describe!)!!!!  Therefore I will break it down into sections.  Incidentally, the one previous owner told me he recieved this Box Set for Christmas one year, and he barely remembers even playing it (as it really wasnt a Beatles fan!), which exactly how this Box SEt has remained in such FANTASTIC condition today!!!!  I will now describe this AMAZING Box Set in sections below:-

AMOUNT OF PLAYS

Looking under light at the spindle traces I can report that NO LP has been played MORE than once.  'Please Please Me' & 'With The Beatles' have only been played ONCE on either side (with 1 ULTRA faint TINY spindle trace on either label).  'Help', 'Sgt Pepper' & 'Rubber Soul' have only 1 TINY spindle trace on 1 one side ONLY - which indicates to me that only one side of these LPs have been played, with the other side being UNPLAYED.  The other 8 LPs in the Box Set show NO spindle marks (even under the brightest light!) indicating to me that these remaining 8 LPs have NEVER been played AT ALL.  And clearly showing that these LPs have barely been touched since new - ALL LPs still retain their original 'suction' as you slide them out of the inners!  Again indication a box set that has barely been touched since NEW!

INNER SLEEVES

ALL inner sleeves are in NM condition - with NO splits, NO writing, NO yellowing, NO rips, NO tears, etc.  Another indication of a barely touched Box Set.

EXTRAS

Only 2 LPs in this Box Set came with 'extras' - namely the 'White Album' & 'Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band'.  As you would expect, the 'Sgt Pepper' insert is MINT, and the 'White Album' 4 Colour Prints (Photos of each Beatle) & Huge 'Picture/Lyric' Poster is also MINT.  I strongly believe that the 'White Album' has never been unfolded, and it is highly doubtful if ANY of the extras had been removed from their covers prior to my pictures! 

ALBUM COVERS

One of the biggest problems with this Box Set is 'bulges' and partial 'splits' on the edges of the covers, due to bad delivery from new, or the Box Set being dropped in the past.  THIS BOX SET HAS NONE OF THESE PROBLEMS!!!!  As you can see from my pictures ALL the covers for each of the 13 LPs are in AMAZING condition!!!!  If you take a look - you can see that I have taken a close up picture of all edges (top edges & bottom edges), the opening edges, and the spines!!!!  And as you can see there is NO wear to ANY of the edges, and the spinal words on ALL LPs are PERFECT!!!!  There are NO splits, NO rips, NO tears, and NO nasty 'bulges'!!!!  Another problem with this Box Set is 'corner bumping' where people 'drop' the LPs hard into the Box and catch a corner, causing an ugly 'bump' and crushing to the corners.  Again this Box Set has NONE OF THESE PROBLEMS and ALL corners retain a SUPERB square shape with NO corner bumping AT ALL!!!!  Some of the LPs have 'white backs' and incredibly these have NO ringwear, NO rubbing and NO yellowing!!!!  Even the 'White Album' is indeed completely WHITE!!!!  And every single 'corner' on each of the LPs has nothing AT ALL you could call 'wear' - with just a couple having the slightest 'brushing'.  But even these retain a SUPERB 'square shape'!!!!  Beatles LPs from this period were unlaminated, so you would expect rubbing to 'Let It Be' for example.  But there is absolutely NO RUBBING AT ALL to ANY of the LPs in this Box Set!!!!  In fact, the only details I can find on 2 covers relate to there ORIGINAL manufacture!!!!  On the 'shiny' finish on 'Rubber Soul' there is a line of shine which hasnt come out correctly (NO cover damage - this relates ONLY to the 'shine' of the cover under light!), and on 'With The Beatles' there is a TINY indentation which I am VERY certain is exactly as made in the factory!!!!  In fact, the ONLY cover where I can mention any kind of 'ageing' is the 'Rarities' cover, which has a few 'fingerprints' under light, the faintest POSSIBLE 'set off' rubbing traces (remember this was put at the very back of the 'Box Set' and is a Dark cover, so just sliding it into the Box Set once or twice would cause this!), and this cover also has some slight 'fading' to the Gold Print (though equally this again could be from manufacture!).  ALL the covers are 100% flat looking with NO creases, and NO bends!!!!  In fact, you have to struggle hard to find the tiniest wrinkle on almost ALL of them!!!!  So apart from 'Rarities' which I would grade FULL Excellent (still a VERY high grading!), and 'With The Beatles' & 'Rubber Soul' (which I would grade Excellent++++ if not better!), the other 10 LPs in this Box Set EASILY grade MINT(Minus)!!!!  Most people may give ALL these cover a NM grading - but I have examined them under the CLOSEST scrutiny to avoid any disappointment!!!!  A TRULY FANTASTIC SET OF COVERS - AND SO VERY HARD TO FIND LIKE THIS!!!!

THE RECORDS

This Box Set has an AMAZING set of records in FANASTIC condition!!!!  Almost EVERY record has AWESOME playing surfaces and ALL lie perfectly flat on the turntable!!!!  Of course it is impossible to play every second of the LPs in this Box Set - but I did play some snippets of each LP, and checked to see if each LP was flat (which they are!).  Most of the LPs records need not description - as they simply grade MINT(Minus)!!!!  'Rarities' has the lowest grading of Very Good++++ if not better due to 2 or 3 VERY light scufflines from handling.  But even this is a very VERY decent grading indeed, and apart from the 2 or 3 light scufflines (which are hard to see, and I only noticed them under light!) the record shines like new, and looks SUPERB!!!!  'Abbey Road' must grade Excellent++++ if not better - as it has 2 or 3 ULTRA light sliding in traces, which is DEFINITELY from factory insertion as this LP has NEVER been played.  Again these are ONLY visible under the brightest light!!!!  And 'Rubber Soul', 'A Hard Days Night' & 'Beatles For Sale' must grade Excellent+ if not better - and have only 3 or 4 absolutely ULTRA faint surface traces, which I am certain are from original insertion, or simply from slight movement inside their inners over the years.  ALL of the other LPs must grade MINT(Minus) and look AMAZING!!!!  None of the LPs have any dirtyness, or excess dust - and there are NO fingerprints, and certainly NO NEEDLE MARKS OF ANY KIND!!!!  However I would recommend for optimum sound quality, a wipe over with record cleaning solution, or perhaps a specialist record cleaning machine if you have one (I dont!).  After all these records have sat UNTOUCHED for well over 30 years now, and I certainly havent cleaned them, and they are offered exactly as found. So in short, 1 LP is graded VG++++ if not better, 3 LPs are graded Excellent+ if not better, 1 LP is graded Excellent++++ if not better, and the other 8 LPs are ALL graded MINT(Minus)!!!!  WHAT AN AMAZING SET OF RECORDS - WHICH MOSTLY HAVENT EVEN BEEN PLAYED AT ALL (AND CERTAINLY NO MORE THAN ONCE!)!!!!

THE OUTER BOX

A fantastic outer box!  NO rubbing to the 'Gold Print' AT ALL, barely ANY corner wear, NO indentations, NO rubbing marks, NO sticker marks, NO splits, NO writing, and NO edgewear (apart from 2 or 3 of the TINIEST traces!).  The rivets on the side are UNSTRESSED and holding PERFECTLY, and even the outer hinge is PERFECT in colour with NO cracking!!!!  Most importantly the inside hinge still has its ORIGINAL 'backing tape' (as made from manufacture!)!!!!  The inside hinge was secured at manufacture (to support it) by a thin piece of white backing tape - which was designed to be the same colour as the rest of the inside (white!).  Usually this comes loose and falls off leaving an unsightly brown mark.  Luckily this has NOT happened in this case, and apart from some minor wrinkling it is holding PERFECTLY!!!!  And apart from some minor 'colour set off' from the 'Rarities' LP mentioned above - the inside of the Box is perfectly white!!!!  The Box also has NO crushing or squashing, and the 'Made In England' & 'BC 13' Gold Text on the side of the Box is PERFECT!!!!  A FANASTIC OUTER BOX AND ALMOST NEVER SEEN LIKE THIS!!!!

OTHER DETAILS

Although I know that this Box Set was first released in 1978 (and wasnt sold for long AT ALL!) - it was available for 2 or 3 years after this date in continuous availablity as a 1st Pressing (all are classed as 1st Pressings in any guide). Of course due to its extreme rarity, this is almost irrelevant, and any copy of this Box Set has the same value. However for anyone interested to know, this particular set is made even rarer still - as all LPs with the 'Apple' label have the EXTREMELY rare 'Larger' label edge text (which is now almost NEVER seen!) and all the Parlophone LPs have 'All Rights' label edge text.  This Box Set Does not have a Poster - but as the Poster was simply a direct copy of the four prints from the White Album (and nothing new AT ALL!) this is again almost irrelevant.  What is important however is the AMAZING condition of this FANTASTIC Box Set, and it really is almost NEVER seen like this!!!! 

AN AMAZING & HIGHLY SOUGHT AFTER BOX SET - AND ALMOST NEVER SEEN IN THIS INCREDIBLE CONDITION!!!!

HAVE A LOOK AT MY PICTURES - I DO MY BEST TO SHOW THE BOX SET FROM ALL ANGLES AND MAKE THE PICTURES AS CLEAR AS POSSIBLE - THERE IS NOTHING TO HIDE!!!! It really is a GREAT looking Box Set and it is truly rare to find any copies of this MEGA RARE Box Set!!!!  THIS WILL BE YOUR ONLY CHANCE TO BUY AN ORIGINAL 1978 UK 1ST PRESSING OF "THE BEATLES COLLECTION" BY THE BEATLES, IN AWESOME CONDITION!!!!  Dont forget to take a look at all my other items including many other TOP LPs and contact me with any queries you may have.  Postal discounts for multiple buys are always available - and I guarantee to ALWAYS undercharge on postage!  Paypal, Bank Transfers, Cheques, International Money Orders, and Postal Orders accepted. Thanks for looking! Cheers!!!!!

POSTAGE

Obviously this item will cost more in postage.  It weighs well over 2KG - and so International Signed For is not an option.  Therefore it will be £10 for UK Postage, £35 for European Postage (it will actually cost me over £50 to send to anywhere in Europe - so this is saving you £15+!) and £50 for other destinations (Again this is FAR cheaper than it will cost me.  For example it will cost close to £70 for me to send this securely to the U.S.A. - and yet I am only charging £50, saving you £20!).  ALL postage excess will be refunded, however I have actually significantly UNDERCHARGED on postage for this item - giving you the best possible postage deal!!!!

--ooOOoo--

Though there are rarely ever any problems with my items (I always try my very best to describe everything exactly!) - PLEASE REMEMBER to contact with me FIRST, if you have any problems at all, before you leave feedback and star ratings, so I get a chance to turn any negative experience into a positive one!  I can always happily sort anything out for you, if you let me know you have a problem!  This way no one has to leave Negative/Neutral feedback - and we both walk away happy!  Please do NOT bid if you cannot give me at least 1 chance to sort everything out to your FULL satisfaction in the unlikely event of a problem.  Thanks again - Graham @ XXXRecords.