Sold Date: March 28, 2021
Start Date: March 21, 2021
Final Price: £139.99 (GBP)
Bid Count: 1
Seller Feedback: 852
Buyer Feedback: 0

Hello there,and welcome to my auctions! For information about this specific record please scroll down to the blue text below! Thanks!
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.
Anyway, if you don't already follow me, please consider it, as ebay will keep you updated whenever I list new items. PLEASE READ...
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!

VERY RARE THE BEATLES Help! SOLID CENTRE 1968 KT Tax Code EX

Here we have yet another of the rarest Beatles UK 7"s around! (For more Solid Centres etc, please check my other listings!). Here is the 1967/1968 pressing of The Beatles 1965 hit Help! (Parlophone R 5305).
Up until 1967 in the UK,singles were overridingly pressed with "Push-out" centres,that is,they could be permenantly removed for use with Jukeboxes or some styles of players, occasionally for a handful of reasons they were pressed with a "SOLID CENTRE", and pre 1967 titles do show up to a lesser, or lesser-still extent! The reasons can range from seemingly a batch that didn't get stamped at EMI(Extremely rare!), a pressing contracted to another company who also put a batch through that didn't get stamped (Megarare!), or a later special order copy of a single that was no longer being stocked pressed late or most likely post 1967 (Super Rare!).
This copy of Help! is of that last persuasion! What makes these so rare is that who, in late 1967 or 1968 (which is when I'd date this copy to- I'll explain further down why!) that wanted an out of the charts Beatles single would go to a shop to order a copy in when there are literally millions of copies in circulation that you could pick up cheap, as it's yesterday's news! The Beatles are already into White Album territory! So for a start they'd need to be someone who wasn't interested in picking up a practically new condition second hand copy. Secondly most record shops would still have the odd old stock copy of many older hits, so it's pretty likely they'd have THE BEATLES, so they'd have to go to a shop that didn't have any of these! Lastly EMI still produced push-out copies of this same title at this time,so you'd have to be extremely lucky and hope that they sent one of the very few copies pressed at this time with a solid centre. Either way you look at this, you are staring at a hens-tooth right now!
To explain why I can date it to roughly late 1967 or 1968, it has to do with anumber of factors, firstly it's a solid centre, wich dates it late 1966 or beyond, but before late 1968 when the centrally embossed tax codes around the central spindle hole,as the pricing index/tax codes became redundant in mid/late 1968. To confuse things, EMI had a tendency at this period to use up old labels, so here you see the earlier "Parlophone Rim" labels on a 1967/68 disc! Confusing, I know! Anyway, only a handful of people out there have a SOLID CENTRE Help! And even if you are one of that handful, the chances are your copy isn't in as beautiful condition as this one! I sold my non-KT tax coded copy earlier in the year, and due to a significant looking (but still very lightly audible) mark,I had to grade that one down, this copy however,is really beautiful,hence the higher price!

Record Condition: EX+ Even under the scrutiny of angling it under a strong,direct light in an otherwise darkened room, there are just a few featherlight withdrawal-style paper-lines, really incredible condition, and perfect audio! Fantastic!

Labels Condition: EX also really beautiful, with just a couple of very light indents and spindle-trails visible when angled across strong, direct light, one tiny (about 1mm square) white spot at about 8 o'clock just near the spindle hole of the A-side. Really lovely indeed!

DEADWAX INFO:
SIDE 1:

              KT 4                           ROD
    7XCE   18280-2.

SIDE 2:

              KT 2                           RMM
    7XCE   18281-2:

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!