Need Beatles eggspert - is this a counterfeit 45 sleeve ?

[Mikey]

Found this sleeve in a book.

I think I bought it on a flea in the early 90's.

I had a Beatles collector book that stated if a sleeve don't have MADE IN USA it's a counterfeit.

Is that true ?

Is this sleeve a counterfeit ? ....

Front

http://megomuseum.com/mmgallery/files/7/sleeve1.jpg

Back

http://megomuseum.com/mmgallery/files/7/sleeve2.jpg

Thanks

m

[MIB41]

If that is the real thing, it's the crappiest photo sample I've ever seen on that sleeve. And I've seen some worn out copies too. Typically the band photo is far more crisp than that. And the blue is a darker/richer tone than what I see here. Usually forged copies have inferior photos. This certainly seems to fall into that category. But, like anything, without seeing it firsthand, I would never say definitively. But based on those photos it does look very suspect. My opinion.

[Mikey]

I was thinking that too but wanted somebody else to say it as well

[Brazoo]

I'm not a Beatles collectable expert at all, but I know a fair amount about printing - and the way the edges of the letters in the yellow and white text look "fuzzy" makes it seem like it was copied from an original print.

Like - take a look at this:



In this pic those little dots don't appear in the text, because normally the blue ink would be printed separately with the text cut out of it. The white should be a clean sharp line - no little blue dots. Unless the text was copied - in which case there would be loss of detail - the sharp line would be blurred a little - like in the one you posted.

Of course maybe the scan makes it look blurry for some reason - maybe a closer scan of that text area will help me see if it's really as "fuzzy" as it looks here.

Another possibility - maybe there were legit pressings of this record made where the cover art was duplicated in this crappy way for some reason?

One thing I don't get - is if they counterfeited the original by copying it - why would they remove "MADE IN THE USA" from the copy?

[spacecaps]

I'm not a Beatle guy but I was a record guy at one time. What you have is the "West Coast" printing of the 45. Basically the record sleeve was printed on the West Coast where they used a slightly different variation of printing their sleeves. This is actually a harder to find 1st pressing of what is essentially the Beatles biggest selling single in their history. If you do an ebay search on this single you can find plenty of both versions available. One of the things about counterfeiting is that the item is usually really valuable. At most this singe is maybe $50 or so and thats on a good day.Most times it wouldn't sell anywhere near that It really wouldn't make sense to forge something thats only going to bring in $10-$15 at most (and thats with the record BTW) Now if this were say, The Butcher Album where your talking thousands of dollars, I could totally see it and that why there are many "imports" out there but for someone to craft a fake of the Yesterday 45 sleeve seems silly when although old, are plentiful among record and Beatle enthusiasts. Neither version seems to have Made In the USA printed on it either.

Check it out here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/THE-BEATLES-Yesterday-45-Orig-Capitol-w-Picture-Sleeve-WEST-COAST-/390508850165?pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item5aec242bf5

and here

http://www.ebay.com/itm/THE-BEATLES-PICTURE-SLEEVE-45-YESTERDAY-ACT-NATURALLY-VG-/251195861760?pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item3a7c70ab00

[SeattleEd]

I agree with the consensus so far but hard to tell from that scanned image the clarity and color. If the scan is accurate then I would deem it to be fake.

It would make sense to counterfeit this piece, more so back in the 80's for collectors, since the listing is for Act Naturally first and Yesterday second when later copies were switched because fans had complained about Yesterday not being the A-side leading track on the single.

[Brazoo]

"Yesterday" is bigger on the Side A side - it's just smaller on the other side.

Were Beatles 45s only counterfeited for collector market? Or is another possibility that it would be counterfeited for black market in other countries?

[SeattleEd]

From what I've seen both. Mostly for the collector market. I met guys back in L.A., when I was knee deep in collecting bootlegs, that made this stuff and disseminated them at record shows and Beatlefest. Never collected the counterfeit but certainly the bootlegs for their pukka value.

Nowadays fans can easily boot or counterfeit sleeves but they are not able to replicate the exact quality they once were. Just scope out ebay and you'll see many custom sleeves for 45s.

Were Beatles 45s only counterfeited for collector market? Or is another possibility that it would be counterfeited for black market in other countries?