Sold Date: September 10, 2016
Start Date: September 10, 2016
Final Price: £47.99 (GBP)
Seller Feedback: 4645
Buyer Feedback: 311

This item is not for sale. Gripsweat is an archive of past sales and auctions, none of the items are available for purchase.

Please read instructions before bidding: I offer combined shipping. If you have paid too much for shipping, I will refund a.s.a.p Please take a look at the shipping rates below for multiple discount We are experienced graders and grade under good light. Please advice our method of grading below. If new to eBay, please read instructions below, if questions please ask.

Band/Record: Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II

Label/Matrix: US 1969 Atlantic SD 8236 (USA export for military "RL")

Condition Record/Sleeve: VG+/EX 

Extra Info: Fantastic Led Zeppelin collector's item !! Original US 1st press EXPORT LP on Atlantic  SD 8236 with "1841 Broadway" label and with the legendary "hot mix" pressing

~~~ Side A has the legendary "hot mix" pressing done by Robert Ludwig. Considered by many audiophiles as THE TOP VERSION. Supposedly it was re-mastered  afterwards because most cheap cartridges in cheap stereos couldn't handle the loudness, causing the LP to skip and causing irate buyers to return the LP as defective. Atlantic then had it remastered it by someone else who made it "quieter".

Side 1:
middle runoff groove: ST - A - 691671.  "AT" and "W" are also etched in. "RL" is etched between the 2nd & 3rd groove near the label edge.
Side 2:
middle runoff groove is much narrower: ST - A - 691672.  "AT" and "W" are also etched in. "LW" is etched just past "AT".

So Far so Good. But what have we stumbled upon here? Dear Zeppelin fans ...hold your breath .... here we have ....

ULTRA-RARE U.S. ARMY MADE-FOR-EXPORT (OR, PERHAPS WE SHOULD SAY: MADE-FOR-IMPORT) PRESSING:

- ORANGE AND GREEN ATLANTIC RECORDS LABEL WITHOUT WEA LOGO ALONG THE LABEL’S EDGE
- WITH THE ORIGINAL BOB LUDWIG MASTERING; HIS INITIALS (R)OBERT (L)UDWIG ARE HAND-ETCHED IN THE DEAD WAX / TRAIL-OFF VINYL
- WHAT IS UNIQUE ABOUT THIS PRESSING IS THAT THE LABEL HAS A DISTINCT “GEMA” BANNER ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE (GEMA, AS WE UNDERSTAND IS THE GERMAN ASSOCIATION OF COPYRIGHT AND MUSIC PUBLISHING COMPANIES). APPARENTLY, THIS PRESSING WAS MADE IN GERMANY, BUT INDENDED FOR AMERICAN BUYERS (?)
- ANOTHER INTERESTING FEATURE ON THIS ALBUM IS ITS LAMINATED COVER ,PRESUMABLY INTENDED TO MIMIC THE EUROPEAN LAMINATED COVERS; HOWEVER, WHILE THE COVER IS MADE LAMINATED (EUROPEAN-STYLE) IT ACTUALLY CARRIES AMERICAN CATALOG NUMBER !!! IN OTHER WORDS, THE COVER
IS A “MUTANT” – A COMBINATION OF EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN-STYLE COVERS OF THE PERIOD.
- FINALLY, ONE MORE INTERESTING DETAIL: THE PRESSING HAS GERMAN GEMA BANNER BUT – UNLIKE GERMAN PRESSINGS OF THIS ALBUM – HAS ATLANTIC’S BROADWAY, NEW YORK ADDRESS ON THE LABEL!!!
- BASED ON THE FOREGOING, WE SPECULATE THAT THIS ALBUM WAS MADE IN GERMANY FOR USE BY THE U.S. ARMY PERSONNEL STATIONED THERE. APPARENTLY, THIS WAS DONE IN ORDER TO EITHER (A) CIRCUMVENT GERMAN CUSTOM LAWS AND ALLOW U.S. ARMY TO AVOID PAYING CUSTOMS FEES ON
CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL MADE IN THE U.S. = OR = (B) BYPASS U.S. ARMY REGULATIONS PROHIBITING THE USE OF FOREIGN CULTURAL MATERIAL AMONG U.S. ARMY MEMBERS.
- THE FINAL CLUE TO THE PROVENANCE OF THIS ALBUM IS THAT, THE ALBUM HAS NO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN SHOWN ANYWHERE – NEITHER ON THE COVER NOR ON THE LABEL; BOTH LABEL AND COVER USE ORIGINAL U.S. CATALOG NUMBER SD-8236, AND NOT THE GERMAN CATALOG NUMBER)


= DEFINITELY ONE OF THE RAREST LED ZEPPELIN MADE-FOR-EXPORT ALBUMS !!

Picture overview; please take a look at the pictures:

Payment instruction/Check out: For EU members IBAN transactions to my bank account & Paypal OK.

Return policy and After sales: I stand for the quality of my vinyl so i will take back records if necessary. However, i will only take back if buyer agrees to share the the costs of the return postage. This means full refund + 50% of return shipping costs. All packages will be sent with registered mail. If a package is delayed please communicate. Good communication leads to good solution.

Shipping: All records will be carefully packed by me and I do not charge handling. Shipping will take place with air/priority mail to the paypal adres used and "signed for" only. Packages above 2kg will be shipped with TNT Global Express with track & trace code. Please take a look at the shipping rates. Combined shipping is offered. Please take a closer look at my shipping rates. Packages till 2kg and 5kg are relatively cheap also worldwide, so take your advantage !! Please take a closer look at the shipping rates:

EU I: Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Luxenbourg, Austria, Spain, U.K and Sweden

EU II: Bulgaria, Estland, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Letland, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slowakia and Czech Republick

EU III: Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Albania, Andorra, Bosnie-Herz., Canar. Islands, Faer. Islands, Gibraltar, Greenland, Island, Channel islands, Croatia, Lichtenstein, Macedonia, Moldavia, Montenegro, Norway, Ukraine, San Marino, Servia, Turky, Vatican, Swiss

World: USA, Kazachstan, Canada, South America, Australia, Africa

Vinyl Grading Method: We take grading records very seriously and based on our many years of experience and very positive feedback from our customers, we are confident that our grading method reflects the condition and quality of the record you would expect to receive. Every record we sell has been graded under 200 watt lamp and is photographed 'as-is' in order to visually support the grading. Therefore we use the detailed grading method as described below: