[78-L] Beatles (was: More from the Eb*y Stupid File....)

[Michael Biel]

agp wrote:
> At 18:55 28/03/2010, MB wrote:
>   
>> Dan Van Landingham wrote:
>>     
>>> Were some of the Beatles' recordings issued on Tollie and Swan worth anything?
>>>       
 > > They are going for some money now as second and third generation 
collectors get interested. Most of us who were around at the time have 
them because nobody wanted them in the 60s and 70s and they were cheap 
and plentiful.
>
> The other problem is that counterfeits have pretty much killed the 
> market for Beatles stuff on VeeJay/ Tollie and Swan. From what I 
> recall, counterfeits of Introducing the Beatles on VeeJay are 
> extremely hard to detect by your average punter. 

Naaaa.  I can detect them at 20 yards.  The 45s might be tough because 
these labels used a bunch of pressing plants.  I can tell you that every 
copy of the 45s that might be found scattered around my warehouse and 
back room are legit because I got them all in the 60s and early 70s.  
There was no need to counterfeit them then.

> Years ago -- mid 70s 
> -- a local record shop was STILL getting factory fresh copies of 
> Introducing the Beatles on VeeJay. 

When I worked at a large record distributer in 66 and 67, we had stacks 
and stacks of the Introducing the Beatles LP in the original VeeJay 
boxes.  I doubt there were less than a thousand copies, and probably 
were over 2000 copies.  But we couldn't sell them, even for 39 cents.  
Capitol would have been on our butts so quick!!!!!  I've always wondered 
what happened to them because I KNOW they never hit the streets.  When 
those counterfeits started coming out in the late 70s EVERYONE knew they 
were fake.  I never saw a new-old-stock original, and I was deep into 
the rock collecting circuit then because a close friend owned a rock 
collectors store and I practically lived there.  We were still finding 
tons of garage sale original copies as former teenagers sold them for a 
quarter. I got some of them, and I bought a couple different 
counterfeits when I could get them for a buck to be able to demonstrate 
how easy they are to tell apart. 

The only new-old-stock VeeJay Beatles LPs I ever found were at Sam 
Goody's sale Annex across the street from the main 49th Street store.  
There were three copies sealed each of the 2/3s gatefold Stories and 
Songs of the Beatles for 41.98 and the 2 disc set 4 Seasons vs. Beatles 
at $2.98.  All mono.  These albums had the original Introducing the 
Beatles discs in the m with that original catalog number.  Like a JERK I 
only bought one of each.  You can see the typical Goody's date/price 
code in blue pen in the lower right on the backs.  This was probably 1968. 

> The Tollie 45s have also been 
> counterfeited. For that reason I steer away from any offer on all of those.
>   

I agree about the 45s.  Even if I rounded up the copies I have that I 
haven't looked at for 30 years, there would probably be differences.  
They could be used to help match up, but there would be other versions 
that might also be legit.  It is a lot easier to counterfeit 45s than LPs. 

> Even when it comes to my area of specialisation -- 78s by the Beatles 
> et all in 1960s -- I can help but imagining some plant in the 
> Philippines pumping out the 78s made to order.
>
> T
>
>