THE BEATLES Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Fourth 4th Proof Sleeve 1st UK

	£		195
	$		258

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During this national lockdown, I started to sort through some of my mountains of rare records, at first pulling out ones I didn't play as much as I should, or else ones that I've since upgraded from. However as time has gone on I have done some soul searching, and have actually pulled out some of the biggest titles I have in my collection (and the ones that were kind of my investment plan for if I fell on hard times!), this week, I offer some of them to you, I have focussed on rare Psych (Tea and Symphony, Forest, Dr Strangely Strange, Vashti Bunyan's first single, and other rare Harvest and Vertigo titles to name a few), Folk (Tickawinda! Clive's Original Band, Anne Briggs, The Pennine Folk, The Incredible String Band, The Famous Jug Band etc.) Prog (Pink Floyd, E.L.P. Bakerloo, Climax Blues Band, early Black Sabbath), some very rare Jazz (Michael Garrick Trio, Helen Merrill) some rare signed LPs including THE BYRDS! And some super rare Beatles (Megarare SOLID CENTRES including Paperback Writer, I Want To Hold Your Hand, Beatles' Hits, Twist and Shout EP etc. And some rare LPs Gold Parlophone, A Hard Day's Night "Know" mispress, XEX-606-1, Sgt.Peppers omits A Day In The Life. and ... if I can bring myself to, my VAULT COPY of the Mono One Box Label of Please Please Me... Don't hold me to that, I might chicken out and find a better day to take photos!)
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A word about postage, I have lost out on postage quite signifficantly on some international sales, so if the item goes over £100 please wait for me to get an accurate postage quote, apologies in advance if this adds alittle time to the turnaround speed, but it's necessary to avoid huge fees! If it goes significantly over the postage stated, I ask that the buyer pay the excess. All items must be fully insured for their value.  Most countries I haven't had problems with the excess postage costs, but have found that sending expensive items to Korea and a few other countries very expensive,so if the buyer is not willing to pay the excess,I reserve the right to cancel the sale.
I am willing to combine postage as best I can, but as I mentioned before, if postage goes over the stated price, I ask that the buyer cover the excess, and as such be aware that often if the weight goes over 1kg (about 3 LPs) it's often cheaper to send in two seperate parcels,please bear this in mind when combined purchases!

My background: I have collected records since the 80s, and although I have had a few cut-downs, I still seem to have mountains of records in my collection! I have sold records both online an in person for about 20 years,and have many repeat customers from all over the world. I pride myself on being fair both in gradings and communications,adn I please ask that buyers do the same. I will not be held feedback hostage, though should,heaven forbid anyone be unhappy with their purchase, I will work with the buyer as best I can to find a solution. I have written detailed descriptions of each of these records,and so please don't bid purely off the photos.

Grading: I grade using the Record Collector Rare Record Grading system with the addition of NM, by which I mean a non-sealed but to my eyes perfect, possibly unplayed, or played incredibly carefully once or twice! I will not use the term M (Mint) unless the record is sealed, or there is some other demonstrable way of proving it is unplayed. Please bear in mind that in my gradings EX+ for example are incredibly good records, that you almost never see! I feel that I grade down if anything, please check my feedback for proof of this! I have sold many records (some incredibly rare ones in the 4 figures) over the years, so please rest assured that my gradings have been satisfactory so far! Though, if you have any concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me before leaving negative feedback. I haven't had negative feedback so far, and don't intend to start now if I can at all help it!
THE BEATLES Sgt Pepper's Lonely HeartsClub Band Fourth Proof Sleeve (Very 1st!)

As with a couple of my listings this week, I'm plagerising myself a little for the introduction part of this write-up, I listed a similar copy of this version earlier in the year, though this is such a  signifficantly better condition sleeve! Hence if, this sounds familiar, it's a different far better copy of this sleeve that is on sale here, than the previous one! Though the record is similar condition!

I include a decent playing disc in this auction, correct issue for the sleeve, but really this auction is for this very nice, Fourth Proof Sgt Peppers sleeve, still with very nice and fully legible spine (what a rarity!)

Here we have another little mistake from the factories. Whilst designing the sleeve for LPs, the designers will make a mock-up or "PROOF" sleeve as an example. When they have decided which version to use they will put out the chosen one for production, and that'sjust what they did with the very earliest copies of the Sgt Peppers sleeve... sadly they overlooked the text denoting it as the "Fourth Proof" (situated on the upper flip-back tab of the right-hand side of the inner gatefold along with othe other makers' notes "AR    D 1321" on the left-hand side of the same tab). These versions also had wider spines than most copies. As soon as they realised they corrected this oversight, but a very few had already got out, and this is one of those very few examples!

Sleeve Condition: EX- all importantly the sleeve! Really very nice! Completely free from graffitti, stickers, residue etc. A very crisp copy.The top and bottom edges show almost no signs of wear, and have absolutely no wear-throughs etc. The spine, which is wide on these 4th Proof sleeves, and almost always worn through,or rubbed beyond legibility, is perfectly legible! Whilst slightly crushed as is almost always the case, there is absolutely no wear-through and the text is wondefully legible! The corners show very light foxing. Along the front opening mouth edge are the sleeve's only detriments of note, an inch up from the bottom right corner, there is a small and discreet 1 cm tear from the opening mouth.It's hidden well, but it is there, and also a very small nick to the sameedge about half way up, hence EX- rather than EX or EX+! Other than that the opening mouth edges are  wonderful,with absolutely no other tears or nicks to speak of. The all important inner gatefold that proclaims that this copy is a "Fouth Proof" is pretty much immaculate,and even has that lovelylaminate crackle as it opens! The back sleeve is also very lovely! All completelyfree from graffiti,stains, wear-throughs etc. etc.

Record Condition: VG- possibly verging on VG. The record isn't the most significant part of this package, it's a generally decent copy, with just a few "withdrawal-style" surface hairline marks, and a few more significant looking marks that do cause a few light pops in a few of the quieter passages, but whilst they are visible, they don't interfere beyond a few pops etc, completely free fromjumps/sticks etc. But all-in-all,really decent, strong audio playback.

Labels Condition: VG+ Very strong vivid print, comepletely free from graffitti, rips, tears, stains, abbrasions etc.  Really nice!

DEADWAX INFO:

SIDE 1:

6                       A
                         D
                         G
     XEX    637-1

SIDE 2:

2                       RPO
     XEX    638-1



PLEASE NOTE THAT AS THE CURRENT PANDEMIC SITUATION EVOLVES, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO PREDICT EXACTLY WHAT RESTRICTIONS MAY BE ENFORCED FROM ONE WEEK TO THE NEXT, THEREFORE I CAN'T RULE OUT UNPREDICTED DELAYS ETC, BUT AS THE WINNING BIDDER, I WILL WORK TO MAKE ANY UNFORSEEN OBSTICLES AS NON-DISRUPTIVE AS POSSIBLE! THANKS FOR UNDERSTANDING!
Please check out my other items and if you like what you see, please consider adding me to your watched sellers, as I have many more records to list over the next months ranging from standard to extremely rare! Many thanks!

Any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask, I will answer as fully as I can! Thanks for looking, happy bidding, and the very best of luck!