Sold Date: February 5, 2014
Start Date: January 12, 2014
Final Price: $15.00 $12.00 (USD)
Seller Feedback: 108
Buyer Feedback: 5

This auction is for the first two albums by British rock band Asia.  Both albums are original pressings.  From Wikipedia: "The band was formed in 1981 as a supergroup of four members from different progressive rock bands, namely John Wetton (former bassist/vocalist of such bands as King Crimson, Roxy Music, and Uriah Heep), Steve Howe (guitarist of Yes), Geoff Downes (keyboardist of Yes and The Buggles) and drummer Carl Palmer (of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, and Atomic Rooster)."  Best known for their massive hit, "Heat of the Moment."

Based on Goldmine standards, here is how I would grade each record:
Asia - self-titled album:  
The cover is EX or a very high VG+.  There is very light, minor ring wear which is barely visible.  There is light wear to the corners and edges, with the most noticeable flaw being some slight wrinkle on the opening edge, which is about an inch and a half long.  This is nothing that detracts from the look of the artwork.  The colors are still nice and bright.  There are no tears, stains, writing, stamps, or cuts.  Very nice!
The vinyl itself is EX and sounds incredible.  There might be a minor scuff on one side, but nothing that affects the quality of play.  The record sounds as if it were new from the store still.  The labels are in nice condition with some moderate spindle wear.
The inner sleeve is the original, and is in fair to okay shape.  One corner appears to have been lightly folded at some point in time.  The ink still looks nice.  The major flaw with the inner sleeve is that one side is split from the top all the way down until the last few inches, which are still connected.  The split is clean though, with no jagged tears or anything like that.  The other side has a split in the seam that's about four and a half inches long in the middle of the sleeve.  The top inch or two of this side is also split.  Also, the bottom side has a split seam in the middle of about 2 inches' length.  I believe these split seams were caused by the thinness of the paper Geffen records printed these on.  Despite these splits, the inner sleeve still holds the record in place nicely.  

Asia - Alpha:
For this album, the cover is NM-.  It pretty much looks as if it was just unwrapped newly from the store in 1983.  There is only a minor impression of ring wear, which is for most purposes invisible.  There are only minor signs of age, with a small wrinkle near one edge.  Otherwise, this cover looks brand new, the colors are vibrant, the original glossy shine is still present.
The vinyl itself is EX, possibly a NM-.  It sounds brand new.  There may be a minor scuff barely visible, which does not add any noise.  Sounds flawless.  The labels are nice and clean, with maybe some barely evident spindle wear on one side.
The inner sleeve is the original, and still has its original, glossy shine.  It looks very nice and new with the exception of a split in all three seams.  The split on one side is just under an inch long.  On the other side, it's about two and a half inches long.  And on the bottom, the split is about two and a half inches.  These splits all stay closed unless intentionally puckered open.
                                                                                                                                           

Don't miss this great opportunity to own the first two albums with the original line-up of this supergroup!

Also, please note:  If you win more than one of my auctions, I will combine them into one package (or as few as possible) and reduce shipping costs to the least expensive possible!