Sold Date: December 25, 2022
Start Date: December 20, 2022
Final Price: $200.00 (USD)
Bid Count: 14
Seller Feedback: 120
Buyer Feedback: 38

CAPITOL RECORDS PROMOTIONAL ISSUE WITH A "PROMO" PUNCH HOLE COVER

THE BEATLES ~ RUBBER SOUL

LOS ANGELES PLANT PRESSING WITH THE MIDDLE OF THE "M" POINTED IN "PROMO"

1ST RUN BERT-CO PRINT LABELS WITHOUT THE GROUP NAME   

BONUS: INSANELY RARE ORIGINAL 1965 GIANT 23" x 35" BLACK AND WHITE PROMOTIONAL POSTER

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Ultra rare Capitol Records promotional issue of The Beatles “Rubber Soul” with a perforated “PROMO” punch in the upper right-hand corner. Several months before the official release date of the album, Capitol Records distributed these promo DJ copies to radio stations for airplay. Original issue thick cardboard single-type paste over promotional cover prepared specifically by Bert-Co Print for the Capitol Records plant in Los Angeles. What differentiates it from the covers prepared for the East Coast plants is the perforated stamp. Unlike the East Coast promo covers where the “M” letter in “PROMO” is flat, this cover has the middle of the “M” pointed. The back cover contains the RIAA 6 number in the lower right-hand corner assigned to the Los Angeles pressing plant. The promotional Mono cover has the catalog number T-2442 on the white border on the front at  the top right corner. The album comes with the original Capitol Records olive inner sleeve with adverts for other Capitol releases also containing the “PROMO” punch in the upper right-hand corner. We’ve indicated in one of the banners above, which precedes the description, that the 1st run labels of this issue were printed by the Bert-Co Print company whose services Capitol Records used for manufacturing the covers and the labels for its pressing plant in Los Angeles. However, when looking at the labels’ design one can see their full resemblance to the labels of the Scranton pressing plant printed by Keystone Print. The 1st print labels contain the 1½” pressing ring and don’t have the group name below the album title, which appeared on the subsequent issues. Original 1st pressing vinyl Capitol Records pressing plant Los Angeles with the full matrix numbers including the “*” (asterisk) identifier: Side 1 - T-1-2442-G-12 1 *; Side 2 - T-2-2442-G-10 1 *. What we’re offering as a bonus to this promotional copy we’ve never seen before. This original promotional, and in my opinion a very interesting, circa mid-60s poster with a black and white photo of the early Beatles. Why does this giant 23” x 35” black and white poster draw so much attention? First of all, it contains a close-up almost life-size photograph and it creates a strong impression. Secondly, I think that the monochrome minimalism makes the imagination work harder. Even though the poster doesn’t have any credits there are no doubts that it’s a very vintage item and not because the black and white format maintains this feeling, but because the thick aged paper and the characteristic grainy print-quality leaves no doubts that it’s an original very rare promotional poster was an integral part of the advertisement products that was provided to record stores and retailers in the mid 60s to promote The Beatles.

★

I grade the cover as Excellent Minus. It’s very clean and doesn’t have any splits, writing or wear, just only some light ring wear and shelf wear on the back cover. The sturdy spine contains a fully readable text and doesn’t have any scuffs. The vinyl is in Very Good Plus condition. It retains its beautiful factory gloss having a few very light surface hairlines and scuffs from the inner sleeve, which is in Excellent condition and doesn’t have any splits. The very clean labels are in Near Mint Minus condition and are completely wear- and scuff-free. The vintage promotional poster is in great condition only having a few very light barely noticeable vertical creases and edge wrinkles along the bottom.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

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