PENTANGLE Solomon's Seal RARE Orig UK 72 N/M LP +Insert

	£		77
	$		102

Hi, I am Mike, now 50 – yes the big FIVE-O! Old enough to remember the golden era of original, high quality music, bands, artists.

Also records from the 1960s and 70s bought from the shops from new, I have been a music collector and enthusiast for over 37 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 elusive 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, a couple more at weekends if time permits, hence the name - time rarely allows for more as I Play-Grade virtually every record I offer in their entirety, not just bits to guess a grade - 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 and scanned labels will give a more accurate representation of the genuine colour than flash photography where light is variable. I cannot guarantee one hundred percent is exact colour matching for covers - this depends on the lighting at the time and that is out of my control, but I feel sure most items will be very close to the actual real item. If any picture I take looks more flattering than the actual item for any reason, I will clearly state the fact in the advert and vice-versa. 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, sticks, warps or writing on covers or labels unless clearly stated to the contrary. Thanks for your interest and Good luck – MIKE.

Deck: Linn LP12 with Ittok Mk IV arm and Ortophon 520 Mk II cartridge (tracks at 1.75 grams). Amps: Arcam 2 x 125W Pre-Power. Speakers: B&W 704 Floorstanding 3-way Monitors (bi-wired). All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional Moth vacuum machine before play-grading for the cleanest and best possible sound and will include a brand new lined inner and protective cover too.

First-time, zero-rated bidders, who do not ask permission to bid, will be cancelled immediately and blocked – NO exceptions. For winning bidders who I consider excessively slow to make contact or submit payment, I will use my right to block future bids. If any bidder who wins in the final seconds is present to do so, surely they can at least email me to inform of intention and payment method? If swift or promp payment is a problem, please do not bid.

POSTING & PACKING: What You Get: All records are posted in professional boxes (NOT mailers) with the record(s) REMOVED from their main cover to avoid edge splits and placed within a brand new polylined inner. The record’s original inner will be included if available. The boxes are then reinforced with TWO massively thick stiffners for even extra protection and buddle wrap if deemed necessary. These stiffners are the thickest possible and custom supplied for ‘Oneadayrecords’ – these are NOT commercially available and you will not have seen thicker protection anywhere. The cover will be placed within a BRAND NEW heavy duty soft protective sleeve and the actual record will be professionally cleaned on my Moth Pro vacuum system to give ultimate clean grooves and playing surfaces and the best possible looks and ultimate sound quality. Printed address labels are used as well as ‘Fragile’ tape for that extra professional touch for the packet. You will NOT get tired, dull looking, dust infested records inside worn and foggy covers with tatty inners from this seller and that’s a promise and guarantee. Customers requests or special needs for P&P will be respected if at all possible but NOT surface mail abroad. I never make profit on posting and offer probably the cheapest and safest shipping possible. I will invoice any winning bidder as soon as possible after the auction ends, with the total costs including ‘standard’ or ‘optional extra insurance’ P&P – ALL UK and Russian packets go out non-negotiable Recorded Delivery. My ‘loss’ or ‘damage rate’ is less than 0.1 per percent based on over 3,500+ items sold in over 5 years of Ebay trading (I am now one of most established sellers via Ebay) and I consider that pretty exceptional.

PLEASE NOTE: I will now only send packets to Russia with Recorded Delivery at a cost of £7 per single LP. If this is unacceptable to Russian collectors, please do not bid. I only want my records to arrive safely and this gives packets a better chance to do so. Also ALL UK packets will be sent with either Recorded or Special Delivery as standard (both have to be signed for). All shipping costs and rules can be found after my description. If they are not acceptable, please do not bid.

Album Title: Solomon’s Seal.

Producer(s): John Wood & Pentangle.

Track Listing: Side 1: Track Listing: Sally Free and Easy; The Cherry Tree Carol; The Snows; High Germany; People on the Highway.

Side 2: Willy O’Winsbury; No Love is Sorrow; Jump Baby Jump; Lady of Carlisle.

Label/Format: Reprise – original deep tan format with no warner logos (Please see my label scan).

Label Conditions: Both immaculate: very clean and highly attractive with the really deep original tan colour. Barely a spindle mark to be seen on side one and only a couple or three on side two which show little. This beautiful record has all the hallmarks of a copy hardly ever played and that’s the way we like them.

Cat Number: K 44197.

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Warps: Assume all records I offer have no warping of any significance and all tracking is easy and effortless and should play on all turntables and even ‘budget’ decks.

Weight of this Record: 129 grams. [These days, many modern Audiophile reissues are pressed on super-heavyweight 180 gram vinyl. Only a small percentage of ‘vintage vinyl’ was ever pressed this heavy. Records pressed in the 1960s averaged around 140 to 150 grams. Records pressed in the 1970s were usually lighter and averaged more around 115 – 125 grams. Some records pressed around 1973 were very thin and light due an oil crisis and shortage around this time. Some records were even issued on recycled vinyl from this period and sounded poor with crackle and surface noise evident from the very first play. If any record I buy is deemed ‘recycled’, I will never offer it, I have a very simple test to detect these records if I suspect this to be the case other than audible imperfection. Some records from this period were even pressed on other materials the most notable was ‘Dynaflex’, used by RCA around this time. Although inferior to vinyl, this at least mostly sounded reasonably acceptable but pressings on this material were wafer thin and flimsy. Beyond the 70s, records often became thinner and lighter still but most played fine but were never quite the quality as from the ‘Golden Era’]. (This was based on ‘average’ weights for 20 records from these eras. Later pressings were usually lighter still).

Country of Manufacture: England.

Rarity: Scarce: Pentangle’s most elusive album and this is a beauty. It includes the fragile ultra thin lyric sheet and the record looks and plays as new. Please Note: This is NOT the copy I offered a weeks ago on Ebay. Strange how things happen, I had not had a copy of this for some considerable time and then, two within a few months.

Original Year of Release: 1972

Matrix Nos: K 44197 A4 / K44197 B4 (I have yet to see another copy of this record with different matrixes).

Run-Out Groove Etchings: ‘PORKY’ / ‘PECKO’

Brief Artist & Album Info: To celebrate this legendary folk band’s reunion and on-going tour, I offer collectors Pentangle’s final and most elusive album. On Thursday 3rd July, I went to watch them perform at Cambridge Corn Exchange and what a total thrill it was. They sounded like they had never been away and it was like being transported back to the 60s. Being too young the first time around to see them, this was almost like a dream come true. They played all the gems from their six albums to absolute perfection including as the first encore, the sublime ‘Willy O’Winsbury’, one of my personal favourites and included on this title. If any fan reading this can catch them on the rest of their tour, I strongly recommend a night with them. Along with Fairport Convention they were in the premier league of folk bands around this time. Pentangle had a unique sound blending folk with blues and jazz influences. A hugely talented five piece band who were: Terry Cox – drums, finger cymbals, vocals; Bert Jansch - guitars, banjo, dulcimer, vocal; Jacqui McShee - vocals; John Renbourn - acoustic guitars, electric guitar, recorder, sitar, harmonica, vocal and Danny Thompson - upright acoustic bass. All wonderful performers, Thompson especially for me stands out as one of the finest upright bass players ever. His style is so distinctive and his guest appearances on various other albums can always be distinctly heard which is credit to an acoustic bass player. Jacqui McShee too has a wonderful expressive voice. Starting out more as a blues singer she began it all in the club and pub circuit. This was their last album and not a big seller making it the most elusive and difficult to find in their catalogue. This copy is a beauty and it includes the wafer thin and fragile lyric insert in pristine condition. The cover is in very fine condition also and is quite rustic not dissimilar to Traffic’s ‘John Barleycorn’. The only small blemish is light price sticker residue near the top left corner area which, unfortunately is all to common on this and similar style sleeves – it light, minimal and has NOT pulled the surface in any way – a mere blemish amongst the beauty. The actual record is fantastic: it has truly immaculate playing surface with no visual (or audible) blemishes whatsoever. It sounds marvellous with pure, clean, crisp sound. A unique record and band, one for the connoisseur collector. Pentangle were special, very special indeed and few folk bands even came close to matching them and long may they continue their comeback.

This Cover’s Potential for Wear: High: [Unlaminated covers are always the most vulnerable for rubbing, fading, sticker tears and ringwear, gatefolds are more prone still and the darker they are, the more this type of wear occurs and shows. Some sleeves have a textured finish or die-cut shaped edges or ‘windows’. These are even more delicate and the hardest to find in top condition. Fully laminated covers are more resistent to wear but often the laminate ages with dulling, creases and blistering. Many 60s covers have outer flipback construction, these are very vulnerable to damage]. (US covers are the most fragile of all, very rarely laminated and made with thick brittle card that rubs and ringwears badly. Seams and edges split easily). Please see format below to access this cover’s potential for wear and damage.

Cover Grade and Format: Little short of Mint(-) and a really lovely example. A single unlaminated cover with a rustic type finish. Printed and made in England by MacNeill Press Ltd.

Cover Front: Super clean and fresh looking and the light sticker residue mark is the only really noteworthy blemish. Totally uncreased with few traces of handling or rubbing, this lovely cover front will be hard to find better.

Cover Back: Very similar in all respects but even better and the lack of pressmarks or ringwear is a huge bonus. Tguis back could almost pass for new.

Top & Bottom Edges: Very faint surface rubs which hardly even register on a cover like this, both have avoided wooliness which is all too common on this one.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, very sharp with no wear or feathering. Record enters on this edge.

Spine and Text: Again as like new: Solid, straight, uncompressed and square. All text is pristine perfect, bold and sharp.

Corners: All retain great shape and fine definition and show practically no wear again.

Cover Summary: A very strong all round example of this elusive 70’s cover, one that will prove very difficult to find better. This highly attractive item should please most collectors.

The Lyric Insert: Mint, no messing around here, this will never be found better. One of the thinnest and most fragile inserts ever put inside a record cover and often missing altogether, this is almost as thin as a cigarette paper (not that I am a smoker hasten to add). Totally pristine and not even a crease to be seen, how many survive like this will be very few, of that I am certain. All edges crisp and sharp with no tears, few will ever get close to this.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: I am so tempted to grade this incredible record as full Mint, not a word I use lightly and rarely will I even consider grading a played record. But, honestly, this is pristine and could easily pass for new. Unmarked with the lustre and shine of a just pressed example, this goes beyond beautiful, its a world-class copy and will delight even the most fussy of audiophile collectors. A superb visual copy that is super clean, shiny, intense black and quite heavily pressed. A copy hardly played on all the evidence and with fantastic sound. Visually a super record that should please all collectors.

Album Played For Grading: Yes. [I play ALL records I offer before submitting to Ebay, also the record is played in its entirety unless clearly stated otherwise. I do NOT play snippetts or joining grooves to check for sound quality and quietness – I play from the beginning to end via clinically revealing B&W speakers that include the legendary tweeter from their awesome Nautilus range that reveals every blemish or miniscule sound present on any record.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This superb Pentangle record plays up to its high visual grading with nothing to fault. Strong, distortion-free sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear - sound quality is astonishing with a wide dynamic range and very detailed sound. Devoid of any surface sounds and no pops or clicks were noted and this is an exceptional clean pressing for a fairly difficult album. Largely acoustic and rarely for Pentangle, some electric guitar is used, but still a gentle album that needs a high quality pressing and this one delivers perfectly. Few copies will match or outperform this early pressing significantly I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain this record has been played very lightly and has been clearly well stored and carefully handled, almost certainly in a non-smoking environment. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful record. This copy will prove near impossible to find better and can be strongly recommended, do not miss this beautiful set.

NOTE: First Time Bidders: I will cancel ALL first-time bidders with no feedbacks or excessive negatives who do not ask me if its OK to bid first – NO EXCEPTIONS.

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 unless prior notice of any delay is given beforehand. 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 – it’s always worth asking.

SHIPPING COSTS & OPTIONS:

Posting & Packing: UK & CHANNEL ISLANDS all now sent Recorded Delivery:

1 LP (First Class Recorded Delivery with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) [Signed For] = £4 (OPTIONAL).

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £7 (OPTIONAL).

Posting & Packing: EUROPE & SCANDINAVIA (NOT RUSSIA, see below) (Airmail Only):

1 LP (Small Packet Standard with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) = £5.

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with included Insurance to Item’s ‘Sold’ Value, £500* Maximum) = £9 (OPTIONAL).

Posting & Packing: RUSSIA (Recorded Only, if this is unacceptable, please do not bid):

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ only £7) = £9 (OPTIONAL extra insurance as above).

Posting & Packing: OVERSEAS (non-European) e.g. US; Australia; Far East; (Airmail Only: I NEVER use Surface Mail):

1 LP (Small Packet Standard with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) = £8.

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with included Insurance to Item’s ‘Sold’ Value, £500* Maximum) = £13 (OPTIONAL).

* If Rules allow for that country.

PLEASE NOTE: I always get a Royal Mail ‘Proof-of-Posting’ receipt for ALL packets that are sent out and I am happy to prove this to any customer who wishes to see it via email.

Payment Conditions:

I prefer PayPal or cheque from UK winning bidders. I can accept PayPal from overseas bidders.

The customer can choose their method of shipping with the exception of second class or surface mail overseas – these I will NOT use. 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 (£35).

Potential Bidders: Please do not bid if you have negative feedback unless checking first, I will cancel any bids I feel are timewasters. A maximum 3 days for communication and 7 days for payment to arrive - if not I will relist the item or offer to the runner-up. Fast deals get great feedback from me. Any questions - please ask and thanks for looking.

My Guarantee: 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. If any overseas collector does not understand anything in my listing, please email and ask me to help.

SOME GENERAL GUIDES TO WEAR AND CONDITIONS TO HELP YOU DECIDE

My Use of Description Terminology: Surface Marks = Superficial, usually light marks, hairlines or light scuffs that rarely sound. Scratch = a needle mark that goes below the record’s surface, some will sound, some will not, my play-grade will inform. Original = a record that has been pressed with the first label design which does NOT neccessarily mean a very first pressed record. First Pressing = A record that I believe or know to be a genuine very first pressed record. I do not claim to always know for sure, and that’s why I state the stamper and matrix numbers if at all possible, for those who claim to know what they all mean, the information is there for the collector to decide. I prefer to use terms like ‘Early Copy’ rather than ‘First Pressing’ if I am not totally sure. Surface Sound = Mild, light sound, usually light crackle or similar. Distortion = Break up of the actual sound caused by groove wear or damage from a chipped stylus – the most undesirable form of unwanted sound, vintage mono records were the most prone to this happening but not exclusively so. The symptoms of distortion are high frequency clipping, moderate constant crackle or an echo type sound quality. Violin, piano and vocals are most prone to groove-wear distortion. Feathering = Fraying or softening of the entry edge of a cover. Covers with feathered entrance edges are more likely to have had the actual record inserted and removed more than a non-feathered, sharp-edged cover which are always far more attractive. Set Off, actually a printer’s term for dark ink leaving mild residue on pale or white ink when rested upon. e.g. when a gatefold cover has black ink closed against white, this can leave some black residue on the pale area – this is mostly unavoidable or course.

The Argument for Vinyl Original sound and mix (mono mixes are rarely available on CD), high quality sound on clean copies (played on a hi-end dedicated analogue system – breathtaking sound!), beautiful, large format covers, artwork, inserts and even full size posters etc; huge investment potential, and the pleasure of owning ‘the real thing’.