BLACK SABBATH Master of Reality N/M + Poster

	£		127
	$		168

Hi, I am Mike, I am 46 and have been a music collector and enthusiast for over 33 years now. We all wish we could turn back the clock and buy those wonderful brand new records from the 60s and 70s, but alas, this is not possible; so I always try to offer the finest and most accurately described and graded records I can find. No vinyl/music lover really would choose to buy second-hand, but this is only way now to own these valuable, prized and ellusive items now. I pride myself on offering a variety of genres to keep my site as interesting as possible. I will rarely offer any record that falls below a true Excellent grading, unless its of a certain rarity which will justify offering a lesser grade. I try, to the best of my ability to describe as accurately and as honesty as I can all items I offer for sale with all the relevant information I can think of to help any potential bidder and collector. You may notice I only submit records sparingly on Ebay - on average ONEADAY, hence the name - time rarely allows for more as I Play-Grade virtually every record I offer in their entirity, not just bits to guess a grade (on a Rega 3 deck with Ortofon cartridge) - visuals alone do not always tell a true or full story - I will mention any defects or flaws no matter how small that I notice to be fair as possible to any interested reader – I am very fussy and my buyers have the right to be too. Every record I offer, whether it be a common or rare item deserves the same respect as far as I am concerned and will be treated the same - just because an item is rare does not always mean its good. I get just as much pleasure offering a relatively common record in stunning near mint condition as the real rare items. All the pictures I use for your guidance are taken with a digital camera or scanned - they are NOT improved, cleaned-up or made better looking than they are with camera trickery or enhancing with digital programmes. What you see is what you get. I hope the item below is to your liking - any questions can be emailed and I will do my very best to answer you. I am enthusiastic , and have a fair degree of knowledge about many genres and I promise quality items - bid with confidence - excellence comes as standard and so does Near Mint regularly. Please assume all records I offer have NO jumps or sticks or writing on covers or labels unless clearly stated to the contrary. Thanks for your interest and Good luck – MIKE.

Please Note: I will now offer any item to the runner-up after the mandatory Ebay 3 days if no contact is made by the winning bidder. The same applies if no payment is received within the mandatory 7 days so any bidder who has just lost out can still email me to reserve the item as priority second chance. Item wants are always welcome - email me with anything needed, you never know - I may just have a copy in stock. I by quality single items and collections also (Email me please if you have quality items for sale).

Debutant Bidders: Many sellers refuse first time buyers: I do not follow this practice (everybody has to start somewhere), but I would appreciate any first timer letting me know their intentions of their intended payment method and very prompt communication, preferably before any bid or soon after the auctions ends. This gives confidence that their intentions are honourable, and I in return guarantee extra special good feedbacks to get zero rated Ebayers off to a flying start to help them with future transactions. NOTE: I WILL NOT ACCEPT BIDS FROM UNREGISTERED USERS, I will cancel them immediately, and sorry, I cannot give valuations on people’s personal items just for their own curiosity, no item can be accurately valued blindly.

Please read all the information carefully - these adverts take an age to compile properly - so it’s well worth a few minutes of your time to read the details thoroughly. I really cannot take any responsibility if any bidder fails to read any facts that are clearly stated in the advert - Thankyou.

Artist or Band: BLACK SABBATH

Album Title: Master of Reality

Cat Number: 6360 050 (D) Stereo. A German pressing

Label and Condition: Vertigo Spiral. Full spiral format on side one and large spiral above centre hole on side two. The B-side is black instead of the usual white, a rare variation for this album, the UK version was just the same. Beautiful clean examples that I am trying hard to find spindle traces. If any are present they sure are light, maybe the odd faint trace but look very hard to see them. There is zero wear around the centre hole which is even a more accurate guide to the number of plays. This retains a very snug fit around my Rega spindle and all clues point to a record hardly played. (Please see label scans for all information needed).

Country of Manufacture: Germany.

Rarity: Okay, a UK copy of this minus the poster is moderately scarce these days. With the poster its quite rare and very sort after. This German pressing for me is even rarer than the UK copy (and for me vastly superior to the UK version, I will explain further down). This copy has the poster included as well, this for me is the rarest Master of Reality of the lot. And one in this condition will never be found often, if at all.

Original Year of Release: 1971

Matrix Nos: 10 AA6360050 1Y 320 and 2Y 320.

Brief Artist & Album Info: Black Sabbath’s classic mega doom laden third album and I think just about my favourite of the first four classics. No need for overlong descriptions about this heavy metal gem, most interested collectors will know all about this one. What is important here is the fact its a German spiral copy and why I personally think this is superior in every way to the UK version. So what are the differences? Well for a start the labels are almost exactly the same: the giant spiral on side one has the word VERTIGO printed above the usual side A, but little else apart from German copyright differs on the B side. The cover for this version is a normal single cover sleeve instead of that dreadful flimsy, fall apart box that was never made to last long, its always flat, creased and the flap always cracks and tears. A truly mint UK box cover is worthy of a considerable sum. This cover has all the lovely shiny laminate and rich embossing of the UK version, also the purple spiral logo on the top left is embossed too. All the lyrics are printed on the back (in English, everything on the cover is English and the same except printed in Germany credit line). This cover has a proper spine and no flaps. This is far more robust and looks superb. The next huge difference and this is a massive bonus (no pun intended) - the poster for this one is bigger than the UK version - its huge! The same picture of course but the paper is thicker and more durable and feels heavier too. This poster is just wonderful, its as rare as they get - when I bought mine around 30 odd years ago the first thing I did was hang up the poster on my wall, so did most because this poster is terrific. Dark and sinister with real menace, like the band themselves. This one is mint, unmounted and massive, please check out the poster picture, this large format is almost certainly rarer than the UK mini version. I very rarely will applaude foreign pressings for UK bands but this is a true exception (along with the German Pink Island pressing of ELP’s debut, that too is in a class of its own with its gatefold cover and laminated [one of those coming very soon]). The last difference is the inner, this one does not come in the spiral inner but a black heavy duty lined inner which is near mint. Its official as it has the 6360 050 album number printed on it making it unique to this set and vitally important. All the spiral inners were pretty much the same, any could be placed in any, this one could not. The LP is well pressed, it looks close to mint and plays almost to that high visual grading. The cover looks brilliant, I do not exaggerate, this is the biz. And that poster - wow, awesome is too small a word. Do not be put of by a non-UK pressing, this is superior in every department - visually sublime and phenominal sound too.

Cover Grade and Format: EX++. As stated in the preamble - regular single format with embossing and lamination.

Cover Lamination: Front and back, absolutely stunning, rich and shiny and no peeling, just one tiny dry sliver on the back near spine edge - minor to say the least. No dry spots around the heavily embossed lettering which is important as this always ruins this cover whatever version. There is one crease near the top right one both sides but only light and few others, none worthy of real note. The cleaness and shiny appearance gives this cover a very, very black finish which adds immensely to the appearance of this sinister album. This has hardly any chipping which spoils the blackness - this has to be seen for real, its truly awesome.

Cover Front: Clean with little wear, black as the night and the embossing really stands out, maybe this even shows up on my picture?

Cover Back: Very similar to the front - superb!

Top Edge: Unworn.

Bottom Edge: Unworn.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, sharp with little wear, one tiny nick tear near the top, no more than a few millimeters, this is just about the only ‘damage’ on the whole cover, how trivial is that? Record enters on right outside edge.

Spine and Text: Solid and square with little wear, text is near perfect and unworn under the uncracked laminate.

Corners: All four are close to wearless. All still nicely shaped too.

Cover Summary: A rare variant and for me light years better than that silly box. As far as Black Sabbath covers go, this is simply the best.

Poster Condition: Classic band picture, no wonder everyone wants this one. Fresh as the day it was made, unmounted, uncreased (apart from the fold lines) deep colour, this is more than just worthy of this album - its the best ever.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: Mint(-) A superb copy with just the odd faint surface trace, but look hard - anything is superficial and nothing sounds as pops or ticks. Super clean and shiny, and jet black and a heavy pressing as well. A copy with minimal plays on all the evidence. A visual gem that should please most collectors again.

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This super record plays up to its high visual grading with little to fault. There is a faint surface sound on the very quiet short first track of side two, but to get this to play silent on vinyl is a real challenge, any sound is very light indeed and this fine pressing sets a very high standard. The music for the most part is so loud any other minor sound will be lost anyway. This one has strong, undistorted sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear - the basslines throb and growl, the guitars scream and the cymbals crash and zing and the drums are thunderous. I played this one on the big downstairs system to get the full effect - and loud! Boy this shook the rafters, the power embedded in these super clean and unworn grooves made for awesome listening, it bought back memories of seeing Ozzy and the boys back at Hammersmith Odeon at around 1976(ish) - what a gig that was. This copy has few, if any pops or ticks from memory (who could tell?) and a fine German pressing. Both channels are clean and unstressed, I feel very sure this record has been played little and has been well stored and looked after, almost certainly in a non-smoking environment. Little, if anything spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this gem. This copy will prove near impossible to find significantly better - oh Lord yeah.

Track Listing: Sweet leaf; After forever; Children of the grave; Orchid; Lord of this world; Solitude; Into the void.

Album Played For Grading: Yes.

Final Summary: Powerful, eerie and gloomy - all the traits of a classic Black Sabbath album, never liked by the critics at the time but they did not just survive, they thrived and the fans loved them - and still do. This very scarce complete German spiral copy is wonderful, any serious collector should love it. A copy so similar, yet so different from the UK copy, out of the two, I know which I would choose, but I would guess the serious Sabbath and spiral collector would want both versions anyway. This will not appear often and the condition is unlikely to be found better. And, oh yes, that poster, take one more look at it - its size is SIX times bigger than the actual cover - wot a beauty - - Oh Lord Yeah! – Mike.

Payment Details please read carefully:

UK First Class: = £2.50; Recorded Delivery (Recommended) = £4.00 Special Delivery (Next day, insured up to £250), the best service available = £6.00

Europe Air Mail: = £4 Insured: £8.00

Overseas, non-Europe e.g. USA, Japan, Australia etc. Airmail:= £7; Insured with recorded delivery (where available) = £11.00

Singles: (Packed to the high standards of the LPs)

UK First class: = £2.00 Insured: £4

Europe Air Mail = £3.00 Insured: £5.50

Overseas, non-Europe (as above) Airmail £3.50 Insured: £6.00

Doubles add extra £1, triples add extra £2. Box sets add extra £3 (£4 overseas and Europe)

Any item that sells for over £85 will be sent Special Delivery in the UK at no extra cost. Items over £125 get the same service Overseas. This is gives peace of mind for the winning bidder and myself for valuable items. Reduced postage of course for multiple items.

The winner bidder chooses his/her posting method and if uninsured is chosen, its their decision and they have to stick with it, I can accept no responsibility if an item is lost in the post. I can only try to claim at standard levels if no enhancement is chosen (£28). PLEASE NOTE: I will NOT use surface mail, its too slow, with a higher risk of loss and damage.

Mailing Details: Please note I do not profit on postage (my packing standards are high and the package weighs a little more. All records are sent in plastic covers with the record taken out of the sleeve and sent in professional mailers with FOUR professional stiffners for extra protection (if space allows), I do NOT use old cardboard boxes or cereal packets for protection. More expensive items are also inserted into a de-luxe heavy duty padded bag AS WELL to give that extra protection. I truly want ALL my items to arrive to their destination in the same condition they leave me. I will also include in most cases a brand new lined inner, but will include the original inner if available and in a condition to be given.

I accept cash for payments worldwide in UK Pounds Sterling, Euros or US Dollars - but this at the senders own risk. Please send registered and insured if this method is chosen. I cannot accept responsibility if any cash payments do not turn up. This system is very reliable and rarely goes astray. The same goes for any shipped uninsured item, I can only try to claim for any undelivered or damaged article at basic insurance levels if no enhanced insurance is requested and paid for (unless the value threshold is high enough for me insure as standard, see above)

Overseas bidders please note conversion rates for Pounds to Dollars and Pounds to Euros will be charged at 1.7 to cover PayPal or cash conversion costs.

PLEASE NOTE: Any PayPal user can now pay me with UK Sterling if they wish with no need to convert to US dollars (although they still can if they wish to). Any instant PayPal transaction from anywhere in the world will mean the item will be sent immediately - it makes deals fast and very efficient.

Potential Bidders: Please do not bid if you have negative feedback unless checking first, I will cancel any bids I feel are timewasters. I now only accept PayPal, International money orders or cash from overseas bidders (UK Sterling, US dollars or Euros). Cash, cheques, postal orders and PayPal are fine from the UK. I allow maximum 3 days for communication and 7 days for payment to arrive - if this does not happen I will relist the item and may send negative feedback unless an explanation is given. Fast deals get great feedback from me. Any questions - please ask. Please keep watch on my Ebays, I have other interesting items coming very soon. Thanks for looking.

My Guarantee: As listening to every single record I offer all the way through is difficult timewise, can I make it clear if any winning bidder is not satisfied with their purchase I will offer a complete refund minus the Posting and All Ebay costs as long as the item detail has been read and understood. I will not refund if any defect detail is clearly stated on the advert and missed by the buyer. I still endeavour to play all the items in their entirity for grading if at all possible and is usually the case.