GREETINGS & THANKS FOR VIEWING OUR LISTING!

Our primary focus is the selling of new and vintage LP Records with occasional sales of other Miscellaneous Media such as Posters, Cassette Tapes, VHS, DVDs, etc. We hope our treasures make their way to seeking collectors with complete satisfaction. We encourage you to contact us with any questions you feel are unanswered by our description. We want our buyers to receive exactly what they are looking for.

ITEM: LONNIE LISTON SMITH  Visions Of A New World LP FLYING DUTCHMAN BDL1-1196 US 1975

GRADING SPECULATION:

RECORD: VERY GOOD PLUS. Glossy and well cared for.  Light signs of previous play. Tested and sounded great

JACKET:  VERY GOOD PLUS. Top loading Gatefold jacket in nice overall shape with signs of age and handle as shown in photod.

GREAT ALBUM

GRADING SCALE AND PHILOSOPHY:

Grading is a speculation of a buyer’s expectation and opinions on grading often vary. Below is our philosophy/process we apply to grade and give the optimum reassurance of quality for the seeking collector.

JACKET GRADING:

Our emphasis is largely focused toward the Record portion of the media. Although jacket and insert grading will be referenced in our listings, we believe a very different skill set is used when grading these; one more akin to grading books and periodicals. This is why we strongly encourage buyers closely refer to the photos included in our listings. Our images are of the actual item for sale. On occasion stock photos might be included in our listings but this clearly be noted in the description. These will be used mostly when the record is still sealed and has a noteworthy color worth displaying for aesthetic and pressing identification purposes.

RECORD GRADING:

We use a balance of visual inspection and play testing to arrive at our grading speculation. Various forms of light are used for visual inspection (from room light, high grade professional light, and sun light). We are not able to fully play test every used record due to the time constraints this would involve. If a record presents as near mint and hence potentially unplayed we default to a visual only grading to keep the vinyl in an unplayed state. We do spot check vinyl with a visual grading speculation of very good plus or lower with emphasis on the areas that may have potential playback issues. Even then we can only vouch if a flaw did not affect play on the turntable we used and most likely will play similarly on other systems. Analogue technology is known for producing very dynamic and warm sound, but keep in mind it is possible a record can play perfectly on one system, but produce background noise on another. Even brand new records can potentially produce noise. Some pressings of titles are superior to others in manufacturing quality and this should not be considered a condition flaw but rather a result of production. It’s recommended that all records we sell (both new and used) be given a cleaning to your specifications prior to play.

GRADING SCALE:

MINT: Mythological grade that we never use. Simply put; nothing is perfect

STILL SEALED: Grade given to Records that have never been removed from their original shrink wrap. If the record is vintage, a grade of Still Sealed will be used, but then an additional grade given for how jacket will grade after it is removed from the shrink. For new vinyl, one will presume the package would be deemed Near Mint. Occasionally we sell a new title that has received a small amount of damage to the jacket due to mishandling at the factory or in shipping. This will also be remarked upon in our description.

NEAR MINT: Highest grade given. As visually perfect as when originally pressed. Often these records will present as unplayed and will remain that way by not being play tested. A visual grade is a confident speculation considering this obviously beautiful condition. Make no mistake; records of this quality are quite rare, and this grade is notoriously given way more often than it should by sellers. We make a point of only using Near Mint when it’s clearly without question that this is the case.

EXCELLENT: The record will present as near mint with the exception of one or two almost unnoticeable flaws that takes a fair amount of effort to detect visually and will most certainly be detected while playing. Exceptional quality, but just a hair off of the near mint grade.

VERY GOOD PLUS: The record is still considered to be in collectible condition, although it will have more apparent flaws. Record will be glossy and vibrant with much vitality, but light scuff and superficial hairline marks may be present. These flaws will not be plentiful and should not hinder overall play quality. A light amount of warping may be permitted as well, but should be subtle and also not hinder play.

VERY GOOD: Although not a mantel piece the  should be a respectable specimen. Flaws will be more pronounced than a VG+ copy, with the expectation that play quality will reveal occasional background noise, ticks, and perhaps a (light) pop or two. Records within this grade should serve as great play copies and definitely should not be an eye sore as well. Just don’t expect perfection.

GOOD PLUS & GOOD: Records in this grading fall into the “well loved” and not exactly handled with “kid gloves” description. Unless specified (mostly in the event where we sell record lots) these records WILL be fully play tested to verify quality, since they will have so many noticeable scuffs and scratches and there hard to do an isolated spot check. We mostly sell records of this grade if the title happens to be quite rare and sought after. The sound quality will have a number of deficiencies, but still will be listenable. We will on occasion put a Plus on our records graded as Good when they fit the description of “sounding a lot better than they look”.

ANY GRADE LOWER: These will not be sold as Media. These records will be sold for decoration or Arts & Crafts only and description will clearly indicate this.

SHIPPING:

Costs for professional shipping materials and climbing postal rates makes it difficult to offer budget prices. Our prices for shipping may not be the lowest one can find, but are set that way because of the level of care we offer. All unsealed records are shipped in outer plastic bags and housed outside of the jacket to avoid seam splits. The records are given a safe, simple cleaning by hand and if the original inner sleeve is dusty or if the title includes a note-worthy picture or lyric sleeve, the record is placed inside new inner sleeves to make sure vinyl is clean and original inner sleeves do not get splits. Items listed outside of the vinyl realm and of irregular size are shipped in sturdy boxes that may be recycled. Posters (unless already folded) are shipped in sturdy tubes and are always rolled and not folded. We do ship to select countries outside of the US. Contact us for a quote on shipping costs prior to buying. Our stated shipping rate is sent to Media Mail to keep costs lower, but it is HIGHLY recommend you opt for Priority Mail if the item is of collectible value. The item will be much better handled and will arrive more safely and quickly

RETURNS:

No one gets it right all the time, and we will honor requests for returns when the situation warrants. Good communication from the onset of sale till delivery can easily reduce the chances of returns ever needing to happen. Please ask any questions that you believe are left unanswered by our description in the listing. Our response time to messages received are quite fast; reach out whenever in doubt.

THANKS AGAIN. WE LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING WITH YOU