2. LONDON GOLD LABELS 8250-8420
We were surprised no-one ever tried to sort out the Gold or Silver London confusion between issues 8250 (March 1956) and 8420 (April 1957) and from comments we've had, it appears it's a needed thing to know. We don't collect records now, but a high grade rare & good 50s London from 1954-57 is still a thing of wonder. There are some of the biggest £££ 1950s Singles in this era and 50s and R&R collectors find the London label the most appealing as so much quality music & rarities in better sound usually than the USA copy as UK took care to get the mastertapes. In later years they got lazier though. The UK issued some tracks speeded up as the USA copy did, ie 8142 Haley and 8173 Fats are about 8rpm too fast if you know the LP versions at the right speed.
These first 2 Gold London sections cover TRI centres only. Certain records were kept on catalog for up to 10 years, so you will find Gold Londons with 1960-61 Round Centres, eg Slim Whitman, and similarly the 1956 style large catalog number-large matrix labels on 1960-61 Round Centres, eg Chuck Berry 8275 round pressed in late 1960-1961 always uses the 1956 label as the 1st Tri issue sold so few. It was repressed as London noticed the NMD side sounded more 1960 & tried for more sales with it, or maybe there was a demand created somewhere. The VRC 1986 book gave deletion dates which is interesting, but deleted in 1962 doesn't mean a 1960-61 press will automatically exist, or even a round one, they kept selling the pressings they had. If this was the case, Elvis HMV stated to be deleted in Sept 1958 should be on the Blue HMV label if pressed until that date, but none exist. Eddie Cochran 8433 says deleted in 1959, but no silver top issues exist. Johnny Faire 8569 says deleted Oct 1960, you'll only find the 1958 press, no silver top or round pressing. You can see further similar examples with the Jim Reeves early Londons and others
Having found this shocking bit of amateur misinformation on ebay, it shows how much our pages info is unknown! "Artist, The Chordettes, UK 7" 45 On Tri London, Original Release Date 1956 [This Is Clearly A Reissue From 57 Or 1958 As Original Would Have Had Gold Labels (no it isn't says us. The label was the big number/matrix type)], Catalogue Number HLA 8302, Title, Born To Be With You/Love Never Changes". We still see other self-styled "experts" saying Silvers of Golds are the later pressings. It took us 6 years to get more to understand the pretty simply proved Beatles Pye really Oriole Contract pressing facts, so we aren't expecting an easy conversion here. We still see one self-named "expert" who gives RC info (hmm) quoting the most shocking incorrect guesswork regularly as fact, eg saying this 45 turns up as Gold but more commonly found as a "Silver repress" yet we've never even heard of a Silver existing in decades!
GOLD LABEL PRINT COPIES OF 8260-8420 ARE NOT ALWAYS THE FIRST PRESSING!
Some exist as Gold only, some are Silver only. Some Golds are actally LATER PRESSINGS after the Silver was used initially! RC & other books make errors or are incomplete in both Gold & Tri info, so beware! RC may state some Golds exist, ie 8317, but the Gold, if existing would be an early 1957 press as found with 8280, the Silver was the one it sold on as it charted. To be precise the Gold of 8280 issued 6 months AFTER the Silver is technically a reissue, if an earlier design type used! Only seeing the record or a photo is proof. See below for our work-in-progress chart of 8200-8420 as Gold or Silver and earlier ones on the Thick Tri page.
From 8262-8264 to 8399, they seem to exist as Gold or Silver only at random, with the bias for the first press surprisingly being SILVER print not GOLD. Some were silver only on the earlier pressings but in early 1957 Gold labels were used for a few later pressings explaining their rarity & later Buckingham codes. Similar is found with the last Tris, read elsewhere. The 3 Little Richards below are a good example. Note Specialty is incorrectly spelt with 2 'I's on the Golds, but not on the Silvers or the 78s! Also the matrix number is MSC on the silver, but MSCF on the Gold and it's in brackets.
The VRC 1986 book must be used carefully as there is some license used as it's not in colour. Their Roy Brown 8398 is actually a Silver, as is the Clyde Mc Phatter 8293 (both exist as Gold), the Golds look like the Little Richard Golds below, ie small one-line catalog number. The Commodores 8251 has since been confirmed as a Gold.
Silver 1st pressings started 8262-8264, exact number to be confirmed still, in April 1956. At the same time Brunswick, who were pressed by Decca as were London, changed from Weak Gold on dull paper to Silver. Brunswick was Strong Gold on semi gloss paper until February 1956 and Golds are not seen after this April 1956 date, unlike London. This explains with London having some from this era as Silver only as the chart shows.
The thing here is knowing the label design to look for on Silvers & prove this fact true by comparing Gold issues of the same release by comparing the Buckingham code. Squinting at matrix numbers & other codes (at 9 o'clock to the matrix number) is pointless as you, well, have to squint. Here the Silver labels jump out at you. Writing this article was an education after having the LR 'Rip it up' 45s on Gold & Silver to wonder about.
Tiny variations appear consistent: on the 3 Little Richards on the Golds page, the LITTLE RICHARD is in the same font. but the and his Band line is and his Band on the Golds but and His Band on the Silvers, for whimsical sorts, 'His' with a Capital 'H' implying it's God's band! These copies of 8336, 8366 & 8382 as pictured: the Silver with the big text print has earlier Buckingham codes and is the first pressing.
A note on 8386 is the first "B+B" one with 45.HL-U 8386 have the '20 Flight Rock' A side credited just to the original writer "Fairchild" (scarce). There are some also with 45.HL-U 8386 clearly mis-credited just to "Cochran" (rare) whilst slightly later ones have 45/HLU 8386 or 45-HLU 8386 and credited to "Fairchild-Cochran" which is the most common, though EC got a 'honorary' co-writer credit as on the US issue but gained no royalties. It clearly sold well but must have just missed the charts by the amount of copies found online.
The Golds of some are actually early 1957 pressings, as 8280 can be seen to be. Note the Buckingham codes may have 1 side with an earlier number, take the higher number to be the real one to judge it on, or it'll get confusing as the later 8330 below shows. The Gold has later codes and can be technically seen as a second pressing, but try convincing buyers when Gold sells for 3x Silver! Time to recognise the true first issues & it's easy knowing how. Grab a bargain before our info gets better known!
One interesting London is HL 8361 George Hamilton IV rockabilly gem. This is extra rare in both Gold & Silver, yet the 2010 RC guide puts Gold at £175 yet the Silver at a lowly £60. This shows how wrong thinking still is on these early Silvers. The Silver has the large catalog & matrix number & has a "B" code both sides. Not seen the Gold in person, but the Gold was usually a repress after the Silver sold out by this time, that's if the Silver was the first "B"+"B" pressing. The fact the teen pop ballad original 'A' side on the USA copies is titled "A Rose And a Baby Ruth" would confuse non USA buyers as a 'Baby Ruth' is a 1900 invented chocolate nut caramel bar renamed in 1921 at the same time the baseball star "Babe Ruth" was at his height of fame, despite denials by the bar maker. The odd bit with the UK issue is, they couldn't have him sing "Baby Ruth" as it'd sound odd, so they had him re-sing "A Rose And A Candy Bar" instead to overdub the UK release with. They did this without much care making the overdub really obvious as too loud & crisper sounding than the rest of the track. No sales therefore as it spoiled the track! Both Gold & Silver have MSC 1524 on "Rose" and MSC 1500 on "If". A One Side Demo should exist of the USA version of "Rose" with perhaps MSC 1499 until they decided to change it.
Now we've kept a record of Gold-Silvers from these numbers in the RIS London book. Various sites show label photos to fill in gaps inc from ebay. The Vintage yellow cover Rare Records book from 1986 falsely states 8275 is a Gold when only a Silver Tri exists (+ the round 1960-61 repress with the 1956 labels). 8275 is Downbound Train/No Money Down. 2 great tracks but way too obscure for UK in May 1956. Oddly 'No Money Down' sounds more like a 1960-61 cut in retrospect, probably why it was repressed.
Maybe someone at Decca (anyone still around?) could explain where & why the Golds changed to Silver and mixed in this time. If only we'd asked 20 years ago.
SILVER PRINT:
The way to tell the very earliest press of any London on Silver from 8260-8389 is with the Matrix Number (on the label) in Big Text & the Catalog Number in Bold Type on 2 lines, see the photos below, and then Check the BUCKINGHAM codes, eg a 'B' code, the first letter of Decca's code word at 3'o clock to the matrix being at 6 o'clock position. We have since seen 8384 & 8389 as Silver with the Large text.
Some from the 8260-8420 exist as silver only, such as Carl Perkins top 10 hit 'Blue Suede Shoes'. All 45s we've seen of 8271 from March 1956 have silver text, big catalog number, big matrix number & Sun over the title-artist. There is no Gold later repress. See Chuck Berry 8375 on silver with the big text with a 'B' means it was pressed BEFORE the Gold one and looks better than the usually faded Gold and is much cheaper! We know what we'd prefer.
8381, 8382, 8384 & 8389 have been confirmed as Silver with BIg Catalog Number/Big Matrix Number, see the photos below. 8386, 8387 & 8388 all only seen so far as the smaller number/matrix type, but the London book says they were issued a bit later in April 1957, not March as the numbers suggest. This can mean 8383-8385 and possibly even 8390-8397 exist as big catalog/matrix numbers! 8398 you can find several copies of to compare & we've had 8399 with a 'B+B' so it only exists as Silver with the smaller numbers. The big matrix number on the label by itself carried on until at least 8396, only a month longer. Since found a one-off much later 8592 with the big matrix too.
The Gold of 8382 (March 1957) reportedly has a 'B+B' code with 2C on TGCHI, the same as the early silver. We have found 2 copies of 8382 as a big text silver, yet one has the TGCHI matrix ending in 2C has 'B+B' and another has 3C & also 'B+B'. Both SGI sides are 1C but the 3C copy has 'B' is stamped differently with an 'H' under it. Now that's confusing! It shows that matrix stamper numbers are full of errors, contradictions, omissions & unless taken amid a sample, pretty pointless! Oh!
If you find a pre 8399 with Silver print but the smallest catalog number (all HLx 8xxx on one line), looking exactly as the Gold but in Silver, then this is a repress after April 1957. Good sellers like Slim Whitman & Little Richard can be found like this. You'll also find them with the small catalog number like you'll see on the London Silver 8399-8625 page from the same era.
8253 Pat Boone I'll Be Home is the first to have the SILVER TEXT but not hard to see the Gold was first as Gold (March 1956) will have 'Dot' over the title, whereas the Silver with the large catalog & matrix numbers only has it on the left (matching 8283, May 1956) which is first seen on 8279. Similarly 8256 Fats Domino has a later side 'Imperial' design on the Gold as does the 8280 Gold, but from subtle clues both could be as late as early 1957 presses as well as explaining the rarity of those 2 on Gold.
As a general rule, if it exists on both Gold and Silver (with the big text) the SILVER is usually the RARER one! Exceptions found so far are 8280 (the gold was pressed much later), and 8317 Jim Lowe. More will likely be added here as research is ongoing. Little Richard 1st 2 are COMMON on the Gold, the 1st Silver 0f 8366 is a real rare one
GOLD PRINT:
As the above 'Silver' section states, some of the Gold Londons 8262-8398 were pressed FIRST on Silver Print! Are Golds really worth the extra money in light of this info only to find most Golds post 8200 are weak & faded?
Some better selling titles pre 8154 have the USA label details repressed with this info in larger print, but still over the title. Similarly some represses of pre 8279 (Gold or Silver) have the US label
to the left of the label instead, so 8172 with DOT to the left is a post May 1956 pressing of a Sep 1955 release. Not that this fact is much known either. So the 8253 silver we show with big text can't be earlier than May 1956 press of a Mar 1956 issue. Some early 45 do not show any USA label until 8079, though 8115-8118, 8137, 8139 (USA London), 8143, 8145, 8147, 8148, 8176, 8211-8213, 8235, 8267 (UK Decca), 8272, 8314, 8321, 8341 omit the USA label. 8134 shows 'Dot' to the left, but as there was so much text on the label, rather than the May 1956 style. 8193 shows the wrong USA label, it should be Cadence unlike 8192 a version of the same song. The Gold Little Richards always misprint 'Specialty' as 'Speciality' as do the early silver represses from Apr 1957 using Silver print but the same design as the Gold (ie small cat no). These small catalog number Gold style silvers 1957-58 are always printed on white paper, unlike the other style which is on dark grey.
The Gold may still be more valuable based on the early collectors in the 1970s blindly considering ALL the silver to be repressings WHICH THEY AREN'T as we'll clearly explain here. Read some of the early RC mags from 1979-81 & there is much naiveness, eg "nobody knows why..." sort of articles. 8278 (May 1956) exists on Gold & uses the smaller catalog number type label & still with the US Label over the title, making it a 1956 press for sure. Some records are Gold print only and this article should not leave you now thinking ALL Gold post 8262-8264 are 2nd presses, though many actually are. The Gold print is copper and like coins, it goes brown if touched or if kept in acidic paper, or green if wet, and before the Gold print gets 'finalised' by metal-related aging things beyond a record site. Many EP covers browned the Gold, often found on Brunswick EPs. It also explains why you find 300 year old copper coins still with lustre.
Golds seem to have been revived just in very early 1957 from what turns up, after having been mostly abandoned in April 1956. Better selling records will have got repressed, in the case of 8280 only the Silver exists until the March 1957 Gold issue, by which the majority of it's sales had been made.
Golds with small text started around Aug 1955 with approx the 8170s. The Golds ended with 8405 & 8420 in April 1957. Any Silver before 8389 (except 8386-88, see above) with smaller text on the catalog number & matrix number on the label is a post April 1957 press, as this is when the Silvers started using that style.
The large cat number-large matrix appears to start on only a few Golds between 8236 + 8240 as 8240 is this type, as is 8239, 8242, 8262, but 8261 is again the small text. These 'weak' Golds with large cat number-large matrix appear to coincide with Brunswick ending their semi-glossy labels. Similar late Brunswick Golds are the same weak Gold, the most found one is Bill Haley 'Alligator'. 8240 Julie London (Feb 1956) was a UK chart hit a year later due to being in a film, so mostly found on a later Silver label as the record was a hit in the UK in April 1957, no 22 for 3 weeks. The Brunswick label lost those semi-glossy labels between issues 05515 and 05530 also in Feb 1956 and were replaced with the weak Golds until Brunswick went to silver also. Some Brunswick exist as the matt paper Gold too after 05530, ie 05531 Roy Hall and 05538 Don Cherry, but much Brunswick is very rare as non-selling straight pop so hard to know more.
Usually the Gold "repressings" were made if the record sold enough to warrant another press, maybe after selling 500 copies. Some First-press Gold which sold steadily were repressed on silver WITHOUT the big cat number-matrix after April 1957, but that is beyond what we cover here. As an example the 8382 Little Richard, most silver are later 1957 pressings with smaller matrix/cat number text on the label as evidenced by 'BK' or similar as a later Buckingham code.
It appears all the Gold "repressings" of the numbers this article covers have the smaller number-matrix text whereas the first Silvers have big cat number-matrix printed text. Earlier numbers will have been repressed in varying styles & some like 8004 were steady sellers for many months, ie 8004 is very rare on Thick Tri, turns up more as thin Gold tri, with either the publisher logo like the thick tri or the later wording. No doubt the Slim Whitman early 45s exist in many variations, with some turning up as 1961 round pressings you could have basically 3 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 silver top all as Tri & then the round.
To conclude this section, Buckingham (or on EMI product the JR/GRAMOPHLTD) codes ARE the best way to age a record, ie early & find label types etc, but used TOGETHER with the LABEL style it proves GOLD isn't the first always & neither is SILVER always the second! Of course some minor facts here could be proved wrong by records that contradict them. If you can prove something worthwhile, let us know!
A SOBERING THOUGHT OR TWO: You'll find other sites & books going way too far into variants decribing every tiny difference of eg Elvis HMVs, Island LPs etc etc and having the cheek to say one is a 3rd press & the other is a 5th! We admit knowing 'Heartbreak Hotel' has variants on the Gold, ie smooth edge, serrated edge, Tree Music, Mills (Music), 7M385, 7M 385. Normal centre, Jigsaw centre. You might find 15 variants mixing all those together and you can bet someone has 1 copy of each and they are delighted with them! One more happy person is good. But does it actually really matter? To a tiny few obsessive collectors yes it does and how dare you, but most buyers thankfully aren't bothered as they live in the real world as long as it's a Gold and in nice grade for the money they have to spend. Do you really want to be obliged to collect every minute variant? Record Collecting should be fun with the bonus of a nice one to play, not demanding you 'must' get these unimportant variants and have a box full of just one record! Elvis Sun 210 you find with mispelt 'Ray Brown' instead of 'Roy Brown', or corrected, yet no £ difference. Sadly the Beatles 45s scene has identified some being rarer as the guides show, In reality, we doubt few are that bothered unless it's clear & obviously different. A leveller is to ask a woman what she thinks, women like music but collectors are very few. Tell her you have 8 variants of Elvis HMV 359 & she'll think your mad especially as knowing what worthwhile thing (shoes) could be bought with the money!
All Shook up by Elvis supposedly has at least 8 variants says one seller who bought the book. Tiny differences in print layout equate their advancing pressing criteria. Sad, and likely bollocks as even Buckingham codes don't mean a 'B' or a 'C' were pressed at the same place or time. 'C' might have been pressed first as the 'B' ones machine broke down. Beware the worthless bullshit making you pay more!
Worrying that your copy of The Dubs on 8526 with a 'U+U' code may not be the first press as the small type one might be a 'B+B' instead is just irrational, as we've explained on the Silvers page. Put the record on and enjoy the fact you are playing a original UK issue of a wonderful record. Your worry in reality is you only paid half book for a NM copy. That's the actual price today. These big 50s tunes sadly are up to 50% overpriced now though they are still much wanted as top 45s & objects to crave, but the RC prices are foolish to be considering accurate, yet alone publishing. We hear RC are upping the prices further in their next book, it's becoming as unrealistic as Spink (Coins) & Stanley Gibbons (Stamps) where the "book price" may give a guide to the rarer ones, but the quoted prices can be 50% too high.
Only when the prices start to clearly show a preference with variations need we worry, and a worry it will be as we'll all have to learn this nonsense! It's nice to understand big differences & the Gold-not-the-first-press is an intriguing one with facts to prove it true, but even squinting at matrix numbers to find this London Gold & Silvers pages info is going a bit far really for most buyers. It's a record to play & enjoy that spiral of undulations, rather than a stamp or coin where visual is all it has. Keep it real, as they say...
