All 113 pressings

Folder 88

US

The matrix ring and mastering SID are the deciding evidence and they are behind a seal. All three rows record different ones; nothing else differs.

Catalogue
CK 86215
Label
Sanctuary
Released
1998 or 2002 - see below
Confidence
Still up in the air (3)
Why this grade

CK 86215 returns four rows in the version list. One is excluded on the object: 28475026, filed under Russia as an Unofficial Release, is a bare jewel case - its note says so and its photographs show it - with no O-card and no barcode on the back inlay, where this copy has both. The three that remain are externally identical: same O-card, same artwork, same tracklist panel, same 6 9699-86215-2 7 barcode, same Sanctuary and Metal-Is devices, same Columbia Records manufacturing line. Discogs separates them only on the disc: each records a different matrix ring and mastering SID, glass-mastered at DADC (28136920), at Sony Music, Pitman (1725337), and at a third plant (37998618). Those strings are quoted further down, under the confidence section, because this copy is sealed and not one of them has been read off it

Reference
Candidate 28136920 Candidate 1725337 Candidate 37998618
Estimated worth
from DKK 42
Basis
2 of 3 candidate releases have sold, so the upper end is not bounded
A photograph of pressing 88, US

What the record says

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

No photograph of the inner mirror ring exists in this folder, so no matrix or SID code was read.

Every line of small print, and the photograph it came from — 6 of them

Front, sealed: the album's standard artwork on a card O-card, with a shop price sticker reading 3056 IRON MAIDESEVENTH / 41-1 4541623 / J077001 / RK 0167 411778352 / 14.99

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Back: the eight titles, Produced, Engineered And Mixed By Martin Birch, and the barcode 6 9699-86215-2 7

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Back, foot at native resolution: the Sanctuary S device and the Metal Is Records V device, an enhanced CD logo, © 1998 Iron Maiden Holdings Ltd. ℗ 1998 Iron Maiden Holdings Ltd. Under Exclusive License to Sanctuary Copyrights Ltd. Manufactured by Columbia Records / 550 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10022, and the line This package consists of previously released material

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Back, angled, showing the barcode against the O-card edge

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The jewel case inside, through the open end of the O-card: a spine carrying the Sanctuary and Metal Is devices

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The same spine from the other end

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The photographs

IMG_1677.jpg1 of 6READ FROM

The object, and what marks it out

Sleeve, labels and inserts

  • O-card - a printed card sleeve open at both ends over a standard jewel case, which is how all three candidate rows are packaged.
  • Sealed - original shrink-wrap intact, with a US shop's 14.99 price sticker applied over it on the front.
  • Condition - wrap creased at the corners; card bright and undamaged.
  • No disc photograph, and none possible without breaking the seal. No matrix ring, mastering SID or mould SID was read - which is precisely what this entry needs.

What distinguishes this pressing

  • The matrix ring and mastering SID are the deciding evidence and they are behind a seal. All three rows record different ones; nothing else differs.
  • Barcode 6 9699-86215-2 7 - recorded identically by all three. The match axis, and no help.
  • The Columbia Records / 550 Madison Avenue line - recorded by all three as Columbia Records [Manufactured By]. Establishes the US pressing family and separates none of them.
  • The price sticker - provenance: a US retailer at $14.99. It says where the copy was sold, not which row it is, and the skill's own note on retail stickers applies (folder 67 was downgraded for exactly this reason).
  • © 1998 on the object versus 2002 on two of the rows - no help either. The 1998 date is the copyright in the recording, which all three print; the row years are release years.
Eight tracks, and the recording credits

Tracks 1-4

  1. 1Moonchild
  2. 2Infinite Dreams
  3. 3Can I Play With Madness
  4. 4The Evil That Men Do

Tracks 5-8

  1. 5Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
  2. 6The Prophecy
  3. 7The Clairvoyant
  4. 8Only 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. Where this copy's own packaging carries the producer, publisher or copyright lines, they are quoted in the evidence above.

Condition, from the photographs

A photograph cannot grade a record - this is a description of what is visible, not a grade.

  • Outer wrap: the original shrink-wrap is intact and unbroken. It is creased and in places clouded, which is what the photographs show through.
  • Packaging: no splits, cracks or corner damage visible through the wrap.
  • Disc: not visible. The copy has not been opened, so nothing is recorded here about the disc's surface, its matrix ring or its SID codes.

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

Three rows, one difference between them, and it is sealed inside. The catalogue number returns three Sanctuary / Metal-Is O-card editions. Their exteriors were compared image by image against this copy and against each other: the artwork, the tracklist panel, the label devices, the barcode and the Columbia manufacturing line are the same on all of them.

Discogs distinguishes them purely by what is stamped in the disc's mirror ring. None of what follows was read off this copy - it is quoted from Discogs as what to look for. 28136920 records CPDP-107467 5 A04 with mastering SID IFPI L327, glass-mastered at DADC. 1725337 records CPDP-107467 H2 1A 04 and CPDP-107467 K4 1B 06 with IFPI L422 and IFPI L424, at Sony Music, Pitman. 37998618 records A9 FON 1CK86215 ECD03 with IFPR L247. This copy has never been opened.

What would settle it: breaking the seal and reading the matrix ring and mastering SID. That is a real choice rather than a task - the seal is part of what the copy is - so the case is recorded as open rather than quietly resolved on a guess.

A fourth row shares the catalogue number and is excluded on the object, not on the disc: 28475026, filed under Russia as an Unofficial Release. Its own note says 24 page booklet. Jewel сase. and its three photographs show a bare jewel case with no O-card and no barcode on the back inlay. This copy has both.

Standing caveat: a US pressing absent from Discogs cannot be excluded.