Sold Date: April 13, 2015
Start Date: April 6, 2015
Final Price: £55.00 (GBP)
Seller Feedback: 1151
Buyer Feedback: 16

One happy customer said:'Excellent service. Thank you very much. The monks did a great job.' 

FOR SALE HERE: A FAITHFUL FACSIMILE/REPRODUCTION, LIMITED EDITION, OF THE BEATLES’ APPLE RECORDS PRESS KIT: ‘OUR FIRST FOUR’.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE LIMITED EDITION FACSIMILE EDITIONS ARE CURRENTLY BEING HAND-MADE IN UPPER MONGOLIA BY THE MONKS OF ‘THE MONASTERY OF NOWHERE MAN’, DURING BREAKS IN THEIR NEVER-ENDING CHANTS OF ‘NUMBER 9, NUMBER 9….’

THEREFORE THERE WILL BE A WAIT OF SOME 10 DAYS FOR YOUR LIMITED EDITION, FACSIMILE/REPRODUCTION FOLDER, AND CONTENTS TO BE POSTED AND ARRIVE WITHIN 3 DAYS. DO NOT DESPAIR; IT WILL BE WORTH WAITING FOR.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FACSIMILE/REPRODUCTION FOLDERS DO NOT, REPEAT DO NOT, CONTAIN ANY OF THE APPLE RECORDS SHOWN IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS. THOSE SHOWN IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS BELONG TO THE HIGHEST MONK WITHIN THE MONASTERY, AND ARE USED PURELY FOR PURPOSES OF CLARITY.

A BIT OF INFORMATION ABOUT ‘OUR FIRST FOUR’:

‘Our First Four’ – A Very Collectable First Apple Release. 

The Beatles’ Apple Record label’s very first releases were marked by the issuing of a limited edition press kit of the first four 45rpm vinyl singles – which they called “Our First Four”.

In the UK there were two versions of this.

One was in a stronger, hard plastic outer case. Examples of this version were very limited, and these were hand-delivered to dignitaries like Stanley Gortikov, President of Capitol Records in 1968; to Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace; to her sister Princess Margaret at Kensington Palace; to the Queen Mother at St James’s Palace; and to the then British Prime Minister Harold Wilson at Number 10 Downing Street, London.

The other, lower cost version was posted to radio disc jockeys, music journalists and critics. It was in a cheaper, thin black cardboard folder.

Both versions contained four singles: The Beatles “Hey Jude/Revolution” (R 5722); Mary Hopkin “Those Were the Days” (APPLE 2); Jackie Lomax “Sour Milk Sea” (APPLE 3); and The Black Dyke Mills Band “Thingumybob” (APPLE 4).

Each single was accompanied by a press release printed on the outside of a coloured folder containing an artist photo and a plastic sleeve to hold the record.

A copy of the cardboard version of “Our First Four” recently sold on Ebay for an impressive AU$6,199 (that’s US$5,700, or £3,643 UK Pounds).

The price it fetched is testament to its rarity.

ANY QUESTIONS? THEN PLEASE ASK. THANK YOU.

In answer to a question about the waiting time:

Dear ..... , it may well be that an order placed and paid for could end up being delivered very quickly, but just in case, there is a maximum possible wait time. The reason being that these items are bespoke/handmade, and wherever possible original or near original materials are sourced to ensure the maximum accuracy with the facsimile/reproduction, e.g. colour, card weight, etc.
It is a long time, I agree, but after a wait of some 47 years, since 1968, it really is no time at all you must agree. More haste, less speed! Making these items is quite a medative process, methodical, and nerve-racking at times.
They are made in small batches of one to ten.

I hope that helps. 

Kind regards, and thank you for asking.

N.B. GRAEME H FROM BARROW IN FURNESS HAS AN ORIGINAL COPY OF 'OUR FIRST FOUR', AFTER SEEING ONE OF THE MONKS FACSIMILIES HE SAID HE WAS VERY IMPRESSED, AND VERY PLEASED WITH THE RESULT. THANK YOU GRAEME FOR YOUR VOTE OF CONFIDENCE.