Vinyl Nostalgia 
Hunting for bargains on the Allegro auction site is sometimes successful, because we manage to find a real gem at a very reasonable price. I buy something there myself from time to time, but I (almost) NEVER trust the sellers’ descriptions and ask for additional information if I need it to properly identify the record I’m interested in.
Some time ago, I have found the following listing on Allegro: “The Beatles Please Please Me ~~UNIQUE~~,” and further down in the description I read: “The item for sale is a Beatles record in perfect condition. A 1963 Great Britain release.”
In this case, there’s no joke—the seller is asking for 390 zł (approx. 104 USD), which is a real “bargain” for the original pressing of The Beatles’ first album. After all, you can sell it abroad for as much as 15,000 PLN (approx. 3,989 USD)! The catch is that the record being sold here was pressed at least 13 years later and is worth no more than a few dozen zlotys (if it’s in decent condition).
Fortunately, the seller posted a photo of the record label, which allows us to definitively conclude that this is not the first pressing. What’s more, it isn’t even a record released in the 1960s, and we have several very significant clues to support this.
First, the black-and-gray label with two frames featuring the EMI logo didn’t start appearing until around 1971. In the case of the “Please Please Me” album, it was only the ninth pressing, produced between 1971 and 1973, that received the two-box label. However, the album being sold on Allegro is not even the ninth pressing, as indicated by a second detail we’re pointing out.
Instead of “The Gramophone Co Ltd…,” the semicircular text begins with “EMI Records Ltd…” and “Made In GT. Britain” has been moved to the very end of the copyright notice. There is now empty space below the lower border of the EMI logo. This characterizes the tenth pressing of the “Please Please Me” album from 1976–1980. Another bonus clue is the extra blank line between the word STEREO and the catalog number PCS 3042, which is found only in later pressings of the ninth edition and subsequent editions of this album.
Records pressed in the early 1970s on a two-box label feature a semicircular copyright notice beginning with the words: “The Gramophone Co Ltd…”, and the note “Made In GT. Britain” is placed beneath the lower border of the EMI logo. However, in the enlarged label image of the record offered on Allegro below, we can see some differences.
Instead of „The Gramophone Co Ltd…”, the semicircular text begins with „EMI Records Ltd…” and „Made In GT. Britain” has been moved to the very end of the copyright notice. There’s now a blank space below the bottom border of the EMI logo. This characterizes the tenth pressing of „Please Please Me” from 1976-1980. A bonus clue is the additional blank line between the word STEREO and the catalog number PCS 3042, which is found only on later pressings of the ninth edition and beyond.
Finally, let’s see what the label of the original first pressing from 1963 looks like.
