Spare £1000 anyone?

Re: Spare £1000 anyone??

I wish I could afford the starting price!

I don't think that this test pressing has been reported previously.

I've just scurried off to "the vault" to check my collection.
I have the very light pink label promo 12" single with stamped matrix: RTT 194 A-1U-1-1-1 / RTT 194 B-1U-1-1-

I have both stock 12" singles, one with the above matrix. The other has hand scribed RTT 194 A1 / RTT 194 B2 as the seller alludes to.

It's quite possible that this could be the only one left in existence and could be a very desirable item to a rich "trainspotter"! ;-)
 
I only ever saw the starting price at £499.00 - I had just assumed that you thought it would go up to £1000.00!

Hence your :crazy:!

The thing with "genuine" test pressings (as opposed to those which independent labels used as promos) is that the aren't really meant to slip out to the public at all. Once a batch has been pressed and tested and approved, they are supposed to be (I hesitate to say destroyed) carefully disposed of. Particularly if the TP has been rejected. It might be the case that somebody at the pressing plant or record company kept hold of one and it has only crept out into the open even now.
 
The more you look into it, the more it may be a genuine rarity. The seller has listed a Shoplifters poster with the "from an ex employee" statement. If true then the plot thickens!!
 
Seriously, think of all the other things you could spend £1,000 on. No matter how rich you are, throwing it away on stuff like this is an utter waste. Give it to charity if you feel the need to get rid of it.
 
Seriously, think of all the other things you could spend £1,000 on. No matter how rich you are, throwing it away on stuff like this is an utter waste. Give it to charity if you feel the need to get rid of it.

It started at a £1000 but now down to £500, anyway, it is true that crazy prices can be paid for such things but anything rare commands a price. My Dad collects rare stamps and you wouldn't believe how silly the prices can get. I do donate to charity on a regular basis too.
 
Seriously, think of all the other things you could spend £1,000 on. No matter how rich you are, throwing it away on stuff like this is an utter waste. Give it to charity if you feel the need to get rid of it.

Which is why I made the comment about a "rich trainspotter".

Although, I would personally agree with you regarding having £1000.00 to spare, the "waste of money" tag can be applied to anything really. Why buy a mansion when a 3 bedroomed semi would suffice? Who needs that expensive M series BMW? When it comes to "collecting" of any kind, someone will always pay a high price for an exceptionally rare item. Look at the prices art collectors pay!
 
.....and now the starting price has jumped £200.00 and the description has been updated to state that only 12 were pressed. Ex Rough Trade employee selling their collection.

Ex-Rough Trade employee, who has presumably been reading this thread!

Hello ex-Rough Trade employee! Please feel free to expand on the history of this test pressing. I have a load of train-spotterish questions I'd like to ask.
 
So what's to say this isn't a promo (as the promos are documented to all have the rejected B1 cut) aside from the fact the label isn't pink? Is it known that all 12" promo labels of Ask were pink? If no one has a white label promo of this then I suppose there is some provenance.
 
So what's to say this isn't a promo (as the promos are documented to all have the rejected B1 cut) aside from the fact the label isn't pink? Is it known that all 12" promo labels of Ask were pink? If no one has a white label promo of this then I suppose there is some provenance.

That is it in a nutshell, if there are a stack of white labels as well as shades of pink ones, then just a standard promo. Looking through popsike you can't know for sure because nobody mentions the matrix info in their ads. The seller reckons it is a one of twelve test and not a promo and that he worked at Rough Trade's London site.Can anyone else confirm whether or not they have this "test" pressing??
 
That is it in a nutshell, if there are a stack of white labels as well as shades of pink ones, then just a standard promo. Looking through popsike you can't know for sure because nobody mentions the matrix info in their ads. The seller reckons it is a one of twelve test and not a promo and that he worked at Rough Trade's London site.Can anyone else confirm whether or not they have this "test" pressing??


No, not at all - you're both missing the point! Please check GMS' well advised / informative post (#2) above to really understand what we're dealing with here.
 
No, not at all - you're both missing the point! Please check GMS' well advised / informative post (#2) above to really understand what we're dealing with here.

No point being missed at all, it could well be a first, so very interested to know if anyone else has this white label and matching matrix info given by the seller. You would expect that if it were a genuine rare test that we would have seen one before but new things still turn up from time to time and it would be great if this is one such thing. I'm guessing your the seller by the way Mr Anonymous!! No need to hide-share the love with us.
 
I'm envisioning this whole ordeal being merged with the idea that collectors are now putting their off-white promos in the sunlight for an extended period of time. :lbf:
 
I can understand the scepticism regarding this, but I'm pretty sure that this is a genuine test pressing. The point I was making is that as far as I'm aware, all of the 12" promos of 'Ask' were all from the same batch from one pressing plant. They all had the matrices:
RTT 194 A-1U-1-1-1 / RTT 194 B-1U-1-1- All of the stock 12"s from that pressing plant had matrices that followed the same pattern. While the same master plates are being used, it is usually only the final numbers that change between batches (ie. RTT 194 A-1U-1-1-2 etc.) It would only be if a new master plate had to be cut would you then see RTT 194 A-2U- etc. etc.

Now, there were also 12" singles of 'Ask' pressed at another pressing plant that used master plates with hand scribed matrices. The matrices of the stock 12" single were RTT 194 A1 / RTT 194 B2 As far as I'm aware, there were no promos pressed at this plant. Test pressings would have been made to check the quality of the record. I'm not even aware of a TP with that "B2" ever slipping out into the collectors' market. What the seller has is a TP that pre-dates the approved one. For some reason, the quality of 'Cemetry' Gates or 'Golden Lights' or both was not good enough. Test pressings are commonly rejected because of uneven-ness or drop-outs of sound or a crackle or a pop [or maybe even a snap, Rice Krispies fans! ;-) ] on the surface. Anyway, this does appear to be the first time that this test pressing has appeared for sale and it is quite possible that it is the only surviving one, given that rejected TPs are supposed to be properly disposed of.....

Apologies for going down the extreme trainspotter route. I think even I'm losing the will to live now!
 
I'm intrigued at the thought of another test pressing for the revised version as well.

Is there nomenclature available as to what each number/letter beyond the revision for A or B side really means? I have never really delved into that, shamefully. Perhaps that is where the certainty lies between now and auction end.
 
No point being missed at all, it could well be a first, so very interested to know if anyone else has this white label and matching matrix info given by the seller. You would expect that if it were a genuine rare test that we would have seen one before but new things still turn up from time to time and it would be great if this is one such thing. I'm guessing your the seller by the way Mr Anonymous!! No need to hide-share the love with us.


I'm the previous anonymous poster, again (I don't mean any harm - I'm just mildly incompetent). But, I am not the seller of the item! I was merely pointing out as GMS said, this item allegedly bears A1 / B1 hand scratched matrix numbers (from the MPO pressing, presumably), which differs from those more commonly seen w/l promos with the longer stamped matrix numbers.

Incidentally, I checked my collection and whilst I don't own this (test) pressing, I did find a stock 12" with A2/B1 etched matrices but I haven't played it in a long while....
 
Newsflash! White label promo!!

Ah! I see what you did there.....

At the Q & A towards the bottom of the listing:

Questions and answers about this item
Q: Hi, could you provide the full matrix/runout on this item? RTT194-A-1U-?-?-? RTT194-B-1U-?-?-? Thanks, Richard
A: RTT194 A - 1U - 1 - 1 - : RTT194 B - 1U - 1 - 1 - :


A devious and dishonest listing, then.
 
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