All 113 pressings

Folder 52

Italy

Transparent shell - the discriminator. 6105707 records transparent cassette; 11755728 records White cassette. Both describe the attribute, they disagree, and this copy matches one of them. That is a comparison between surviving candidates, not an inference from silence.

Catalogue
254 7 90258 4
Label
EMI
Released
1988
Confidence
Confirmed
Why this grade

country stated on the object (MADE IN ITALY BY EMI ITALIANA SpA) and catalogue number 254 / 7 90258 4 read off the spine, which narrows to two rows. The shell colour then decides between them: 6105707's notes say transparent cassette, 11755728's say White cassette, and this copy's shell is transparent. Both candidates describe the same attribute and describe it differently, so this is a genuine comparison between survivors rather than an argument from an absent note - which is what a discriminator has to be, and what separates this folder from 50 and 54-56

Reference
Discogs 6105707
Median sale
DKK 71
Sale range
DKK 16-224
On sale now
9, from DKK 113
Last sold
23 July 2026
A photograph of pressing 52, Italy

What the record says

Every line below was read off a native-resolution crop of the photograph named beside it.

Every line of small print, and the photograph it came from — 10 of them

Inlay spine: cassette device, 254, 7 90258 4, STEREO

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Inlay rear, foot: MADE IN ITALY BY EMI ITALIANA SpA beside a boxed DOLBY SYSTEM device

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Inlay rear: barcode 0 77779 02584 8

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Inlay rear, edge: (C) 1988 Original Sound Recordings made by EMI Records Ltd / (C) 1988 Iron Maiden (Holdings) Ltd.

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Inlay front: a round red SIAE stamp printed over the artwork

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Shell is transparent - clear plastic with the print reading against the tape pack and the hubs visible through the body. This is the discriminator

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Shell, side A: LATO A, 64, boxed 7902584, boxed S.I.A.E., and the side's titles

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Shell, side B: LATO B, 64, boxed 7902584, boxed S.I.A.E.

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Shell: (P) 1988 Original Sound Recordings made by EMI Records Limited. above the Italian rights notice, with EMI, XDR QUALITY SYSTEM and the Dolby device

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Inlay inner panel: tracklist and production credits, printed on plain white

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The photographs

IMG_1300.jpg1 of 10READ FROM

The object, and what marks it out

Sleeve, labels and inserts

  • Shell - transparent plastic, five-screw, print reading against a dark tape pack. The identifying feature of this copy.
  • Inlay - glossy colour J-card, tracklist and credits on plain white inner panels.
  • Case - standard clear library case.
  • Condition - card creased at the folds, one corner softened; SIAE stamp intact.

What distinguishes this pressing

  • Transparent shell - the discriminator. 6105707 records transparent cassette; 11755728 records White cassette. Both describe the attribute, they disagree, and this copy matches one of them. That is a comparison between surviving candidates, not an inference from silence.
  • MADE IN ITALY BY EMI ITALIANA SpA - direct country statement.
  • Catalogue number 254 / 7 90258 4 - the match axis; narrows to the two candidates above and no further on its own.
  • Shell numbering 64 / 7902584 against a J-card reading 254 7 90258 4 - most likely shared tooling, not a mismatched copy, but not provable from these photographs. Folder 51's J-card and shell both print 64 / 7902584, so identical shell markings appear under two different J-card catalogue numbers, which is what a shared shell print looks like. The alternative - that this transparent shell was swapped in from a 64- copy - is not excluded by anything here, though it is disfavoured: the only 64- shell on this shelf (folder 51) is white, and a swap would have to have supplied a transparent one. Note also that 6105707's Discogs entry records no shell number at all (identifiers: barcode and rights society only), so the candidate cannot corroborate the 64 marking either way.
Eight tracks, two sides, and the recording credits

Side A

  1. A1Moonchild
  2. A2Infinite Dreams
  3. A3Can I Play With Madness
  4. A4The Evil That Men Do

Side B

  1. B1Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
  2. B2The Prophecy
  3. B3The Clairvoyant
  4. 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.

  • Case/inlay: general handling wear with some edge and corner softening; no cracks or splits visible in these shots.
  • Shell: light surface marks and handling wear are visible. No visible warping, tape spillage or shell damage in these photographs.

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 the only one of the seven cassettes that gets there. Country is stated on the object (MADE IN ITALY BY EMI ITALIANA SpA, with S.I.A.E. on the shell and a stamped front). The spine's 254 / 7 90258 4 narrows the master's 134 cassette rows to two: Discogs 6105707 and 11755728, identical in label, catalogue number, country and year.

They differ in exactly one recorded respect. 6105707's notes read Made in Italy by EMI Italiana Spa,transparent cassette.; 11755728's read White cassette | XDR quality system. This copy's shell is transparent, which selects 6105707 and excludes 11755728.

That is what makes this Confirmed where folders 50 and 54-56 are not. In those, the leading candidate records a shell feature this copy has, but the rival records nothing about its shell - so the rival cannot be excluded, only left undescribed. Here both rivals describe their shells and describe them differently, so matching one genuinely excludes the other.

The one real weakness, stated plainly. This copy's shell prints 64 / 7902584, not the 254 7 90258 4 on its J-card, and the whole identification rests on that shell's colour. If the shell did not come with the card, the discriminator is worthless and this drops to Narrowed (2).

Folder 51 is the reason it stands: that copy's J-card and shell both print 64 / 7902584, so identical shell markings occur under two different J-card catalogue numbers - the signature of a shell print reused across catalogue variants rather than a release-specific one. A swap is not excluded by anything photographed here, but it is disfavoured on the evidence available: the only 64- shell on this shelf is folder 51's, and it is white, so a swap would have had to supply a transparent shell from a copy no one here has seen. And 6105707's own Discogs entry records no shell number to check against - its identifiers are a barcode and a rights society, nothing more.

This was reviewed externally and the two reviewers split on it: one held that the component ambiguity should keep the folder open, the other that the transparent/white contrast cleanly falsifies 11755728. The grade stands at Confirmed with the objection recorded here rather than suppressed, so a later copy can overturn it.

Standing caveat: this method cannot exclude a pressing absent from Discogs.