Folder 33
Italy
The genuine 1988 Italian picture disc. Right-opening sleeve and a clear vinyl rim settle it against the counterfeit in folder 42. Its poster, sticker and S.I.A.E. sheet are missing.
What the record says
Every line below was read off a native-resolution crop of the photograph named beside it.
No run-out groove photograph exists in this folder.
Barcode and Other Identifiers: Matrix / Runout
As Discogs records them for release 4133640. Green: in my collection (0 of 4). Red: missing.
| ✗ | Matrix / Runout (Etched) | 7902580 A PD |
| ✗ | Matrix / Runout (Etched) | 7902581 A 14-3-88 IRON MAIDEN |
| ✗ | Matrix / Runout (Etched) | 7902580 B PD |
| ✗ | Matrix / Runout (Etched) | 7902581 B 14-3-88 IRON MAIDEN |
Every line of small print, and the photograph it came from — 11 of them
Die-cut sleeve, open along the RIGHT edge with the front cover upright
IMG_0934
Disc rim: a translucent band at the edge - the cloth beneath shows through it
IMG_0939
Disc face: 060 7902580 and the EMI logo
IMG_0937, IMG_0938
Disc face: Made in Italy by EMI [Italiana S.p.A.]
IMG_0933, IMG_0937
Disc face: Recorded at Musicland Studios, Munich, Germany
IMG_0937, IMG_0938
Disc face: Illustrations Derek Riggs, Produced, Engineered and Mixed by Martin Birch
IMG_0937, IMG_0938
Disc face: ℗ 1988 Original Sound Recordings made by EMI Records Ltd, © 1988 Iron Maiden (Holdings) Ltd.
IMG_0932, IMG_0937
Front sleeve: PICTURE DISC and LIMITED EDITION
IMG_0928
Front sleeve: a MERCHANDISE STICKER flash
IMG_0934
Rear sleeve: 060 [7902580] and barcode
IMG_0931
Die-cut sleeve, circular aperture showing the disc
IMG_0928, IMG_0935
The photographs
IMG_0928.jpg1 of 11READ FROM
The object, and what marks it out
Sleeve, labels and inserts
- Outer sleeve - dark blue die-cut card with a circular aperture, so the picture disc itself forms the cover image. Not a standard printed sleeve. It opens on the right.
- Disc - a picture disc. Side one carries the album's cover painting; side two carries the Eddie/eye artwork with the tracklist and credits printed directly onto the disc face. The printed image stops short of the edge, leaving a clear rim you can see through.
- Labels - none. A picture disc has no paper label; all text is part of the printed surface.
- Inserts - none photographed. The front sleeve advertises
CONTAINS EXCLUSIVE MONSTERS OF ROCK MEGA POSTER + STICKER, and Discogs lists an S.I.A.E. rights sheet, a sticker and a 58×86 cm Modena poster in this release's package. None of the three appears in this folder's eleven photographs, and the flash on the cover is the only trace of them here. Whether they are lost or simply were not photographed is not something these images can answer. Folder 42 - the forgery - has all three. - Condition note - the sleeve is worn at the corners and edges, and the aperture edge is chipped.
What distinguishes this pressing
- A right-opening sleeve and a clear-rimmed disc. The two tells that separate the 1988 Italian original from the forgery catalogued under the same number - and the only things about this object that its forgery could not reproduce by copying the printing.
- A picture disc. The collection holds six picture-disc copies: folders 15 and 21 are the official UK one, folder 10 is an unofficial German one and folder 16 an unofficial Brazilian one, this is the official Italian one, and folder 42 is its counterfeit. That is five editions and, as of 2026-08-31, five identified releases: folder 10 was the last of them still Narrowed between two German entries, and playing its side B settled it as 3925500 rather than the mispress.
060 7902580- a catalogue number ending0rather than1, which is how EMI numbered the picture-disc edition separately from the black LP.Made in Italy by EMI Italiana S.p.A.- printed on the disc itself. It corroborates rather than proves: the counterfeit reproduces the same printing, and what makes it true here is the sleeve and the rim.- A die-cut sleeve, shared in this collection only with its own forgery.
- No paper label anywhere on the object, likewise.
Eight tracks, two sides, and the recording credits
Side A
- A1Moonchild
- A2Infinite Dreams
- A3Can I Play With Madness
- A4The Evil That Men Do
Side B
- B1Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
- B2The Prophecy
- B3The Clairvoyant
- B4Only The Good Die Young
Bruce Dickinson - vocals · Dave Murray - lead and rhythm guitar · Adrian Smith - lead and rhythm guitar, synth · Steve Harris - bass, string synth · Nicko McBrain - drums.
Produced, engineered and mixed by Martin Birch. Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound, New York. Recorded at Musicland Studios, Munich. Sleeve illustration, concept and design by Derek Riggs (with Rod Smallwood). Inner-sleeve photograph by Ross Halfin. Published by Zomba Music Publishers Ltd.
Personnel and studio credits are sourced from Discogs release 576952, the UK original, and apply to the recording rather than to this pressing. The producer, publisher and copyright lines are independently corroborated by this copy's own label, quoted above.
Condition, from the photographs
A photograph cannot grade a record - this is a description of what is visible, not a grade.
- Sleeve: worn at the corners and edges, and the die-cut aperture is chipped around its rim. No splits or seam separation visible in these shots.
- Disc: the printed surface is bright, with the light handling sheen normal for a picture disc. No visible deep scratches, warping or edge damage in these photographs.
- Labels: none to grade - a picture disc has no paper label.
Nothing on this page comes from playing the record. No Goldmine grade is claimed for it, or any other. I have no record of where this copy came from.
What is settled, and what is not
Confirmed, and it is the genuine 1988 Italian pressing. This entry was downgraded to Narrowed (2) after review, because none of the three tells Discogs uses to separate the original from its forgery had been photographed. Two of the three now have been, and both point the same way.
How the other candidates were ruled out
| Tell | Original 4133640 | Counterfeit 6954314 | This copy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Die-cut sleeve opens | right | left | right - IMG_0934 |
| Vinyl rim | clear | not clear | clear - IMG_0939 |
| Run-out | 7902580 A PD, 7902580 B PD etched | none | not photographed |
Where those first two rows come from, exactly. Not from this release's own Discogs entry, which says nothing about opening direction or rim. Both come from the counterfeit's notes, which describe it as “Die-cut cardboard sleeve, left-opening (instead of right-opening as the original release). Vinyl does not have the clear-vinyl-rim.” So the whole test rests on one editor's sentence on one entry, and the original's column above is that sentence read backwards. It is still the best evidence available, and this copy and folder 42 sit on opposite sides of it, but it is a single source and worth saying so.
Neither reading needed equipment. With the front cover held upright, the two card panels part along the right edge. And the printed image stops short of the disc's edge: the cloth the record is lying on is visible through the rim, which is what a clear-vinyl rim looks like. Folder 42's copy - a different object, on a different cloth, photographed on a different day - is opaque black there, and the contrast between the two crops is not subtle.
Why the two copies settled each other. The downgrade note argued, correctly, that everything then in hand was printing: 060 7902580, Made in Italy By EMI Italiana S.p.A., the 1988 ℗ and © lines, the barcode 07777902580, identical on both entries. A forger reproduces printing. What a forger did not reproduce was how the sleeve is glued and how the vinyl is made, and those are the two things now observed - in opposite directions on the collection's two copies.
The missing inserts are not evidence, in either direction. No S.I.A.E. sheet, no sticker and no Modena poster appears in this folder, though the cover advertises all three. Discogs records that package for the original and reproductions of it for the counterfeit, so even a confirmed absence would say nothing about authenticity - and this is not a confirmed absence, only eleven photographs that do not show them.
The run-out would corroborate but is not needed. Discogs records 7902580 A PD and 7902580 B PD etched on this release and nothing at all on the counterfeit, so an etched run-out here would agree with the verdict. It has not been photographed, and two independent tells already agree.
Standing caveat: this method cannot exclude a pressing absent from Discogs.