Your latest Morrissey/Smiths buy

[ordinaryboy86]

On the face of it, a bog standard Hatful LP...

And then I open it, and this is what I see...

I have never seen or even heard of a mispressed Hatful sleeve where the inside of the gatefold is completely blank, let alone a copy signed by all 4 members of The Smiths.
A one off? Can't be sure, but I am certainly over the moon with this little beauty.
The icing on the cake? I paid just £80 for it.

Crazy!! What a find. Where'd you manage to find that at?

 

[Well I Wonder...]

Crazy!! What a find. Where'd you manage to find that at?

It's been on Discogs for a year or so now, though not at that price. Excellent work IR!!!

 

[ordinaryboy86]

It's been on Discogs for a year or so now, though not at that price. Excellent work IR!!!

What, this blank sleeve has been on discogs? where at, i cant find it. I remember one listed as being signed by the band but didnt know it was blank. Would paid an arm n a leg for that

 

[Well I Wonder...]

What, this blank sleeve has been on discogs? where at, i cant find it. I remember one listed as being signed by the band but didnt know it was blank. Would paid an arm n a leg for that

There isnt a separate listing, as of yet, so it was listed as a regular UK pressing. The seller wrote "blank gatefold signed by all 4 members" in the comments section.

 

[ordinaryboy86]

There isnt a separate listing, as of yet, so it was listed as a regular UK pressing. The seller wrote "blank gatefold signed by all 4 members" in the comments section.

Yeah that's prob the one i seen, didnt register the blank sleeve cos didnt know it existed, i think i even had it in my basket for a while and was gonna ask for pics! Doubt we'll see another anytime soon

 

[billybu69]

It's been on Discogs for a year or so now, though not at that price. Excellent work IR!!!

How much was it up for?

 

[Well I Wonder...]

How much was it up for?

The highest I saw was 140 quid. Over the year it's dropped to 130, 120, 110, and 100 was the last I remember. Must have gone to 80 recently. Highly regret not making the purchase as well OB!

 

[Irregular Regular]

Thanks for the kind words and apologies for not responding sooner, was driving down to Heaton Park.
The sun is (almost) shining, should be a good night.

So this is how the story goes, I was searching for a completely different version of Hatful when I stumbled upon this listing, which soon caught my attention.
It was described as a blank gatefold signed by all members, so my initial reaction was that the signatures would definitely be fake.
I requested photos, the seller responded promptly, I was gobsmacked.
I sent payment almost immediately and here it is...
£84 Inc postage.

 

[ordinaryboy86]

Thanks for the kind words and apologies for not responding sooner, was driving down to Heaton Park.
The sun is (almost) shining, should be a good night.

So this is how the story goes, I was searching for a completely different version of Hatful when I stumbled upon this listing, which soon caught my attention.
It was described as a blank gatefold signed by all members, so my initial reaction was that the signatures would definitely be fake.
I requested photos, the seller responded promptly, I was gobsmacked.
I sent payment almost immediately and here it is...
£84 Inc postage.

Absolute one off i'd say. Everyone will be on the hunt for one of these now, hours of tedious emails to sellers, "Does this have a blank inner?" Lol, no chance of finding another i dare say.

 

[billybu69]

Thanks for the kind words and apologies for not responding sooner, was driving down to Heaton Park.
The sun is (almost) shining, should be a good night.

So this is how the story goes, I was searching for a completely different version of Hatful when I stumbled upon this listing, which soon caught my attention.
It was described as a blank gatefold signed by all members, so my initial reaction was that the signatures would definitely be fake.
I requested photos, the seller responded promptly, I was gobsmacked.
I sent payment almost immediately and here it is...
£84 Inc postage.

Ace, there's still diamonds to find.

 

[Anonymous]

Absolute one off i'd say. Everyone will be on the hunt for one of these now, hours of tedious emails to sellers, "Does this have a blank inner?" Lol, no chance of finding another i dare say.

The inner picture of the gatefold sleeve has simply been removed from the outer, nothing out of the ordinary.

Cut along the top and bottom seams and voila!!

Nice signatures though.

 

[billybu69]

The inner picture of the gatefold sleeve has simply been removed from the outer, nothing out of the ordinary.

Cut along the top and bottom seams and voila!!

Nice signatures though.

Ooh. f***in cracked it, how did we all miss that.

 

[Irregular Regular]

The inner picture of the gatefold sleeve has simply been removed from the outer, nothing out of the ordinary.

Cut along the top and bottom seams and voila!!

Nice signatures though.

Ok Einstein, would you like to try again?

 

[billybu69]

Ok Einstein, would you like to try again?

Think he was joking IR, hope he was.

 

[jeff992]

Not sure if I'll make sense, but I'm guessing he doesn't mean the entire front portion of the gatefold was removed, as your picture clearly states that it wasn't. But that just the thin layer (or whatever you'd call it) of paper that contains the picture itself was scraped off of that front portion. So your gatefold is still intact but the picture was carefully removed. I have no clue if this is true but I think that's what this person is saying. I guess someone could have done that if they wanted a clear area for the autographs, although that would still be kind of dumb to do.

Think he was joking IR, hope he was.

 

[Irregular Regular]

Not sure if I'll make sense, but I'm guessing he doesn't mean the entire front portion of the gatefold was removed, as your picture clearly states that it wasn't. But that just the thin layer (or whatever you'd call it) of paper that contains the picture itself was scraped off of that front portion. So your gatefold is still intact but the picture was carefully removed. I have no clue if this is true but I think that's what this person is saying. I guess someone could have done that if they wanted a clear area for the autographs, although that would still be kind of dumb to do.

I don't think that's what anon is saying Jeff, he clearly states cut along the top and bottom seams and voila.

So here is my theory.
I think either one or several copies were mispressed at the factory and the sleeve/s were presented to the band prior to disposal.
The Smiths then decided to sign this one and either make it available as a one off competition prize or perhaps to be sold alongside regular copies at record stores for one lucky fan to find.
I know this may seem far-fetched, but I really believe it to be something along these lines.
I am almost certain that it was printed this way at the factory, and I also believe whoever had it signed, had insider access to the band.
This is not about someone who got lucky in finding the only blank gatefold known to exist and then got lucky once again in meeting all 4 Smiths whilst carrying the sleeve around with them.

 

[Anonymous]

I don't think that's what anon is saying Jeff, he clearly states cut along the top and bottom seams and voila.

So here is my theory.
I think either one or several copies were mispressed at the factory and the sleeve/s were presented to the band prior to disposal.
The Smiths then decided to sign this one and either make it available as a one off competition prize or perhaps to be sold alongside regular copies at record stores for one lucky fan to find.
I know this may seem far-fetched, but I really believe it to be something along these lines.
I am almost certain that it was printed this way at the factory, and I also believe whoever had it signed, had insider access to the band.
This is not about someone who got lucky in finding the only blank gatefold known to exist and then got lucky once again in meeting all 4 Smiths whilst carrying the sleeve around with them.

I think this is a real gem and should be classed as a "blank/mispressed" sleeve, rather than "tampered with". Any background info at all? Where did the seller pick it up from?

 

[sander]

I don't think that's what anon is saying Jeff, he clearly states cut along the top and bottom seams and voila.

So here is my theory.
I think either one or several copies were mispressed at the factory and the sleeve/s were presented to the band prior to disposal.
The Smiths then decided to sign this one and either make it available as a one off competition prize or perhaps to be sold alongside regular copies at record stores for one lucky fan to find.
I know this may seem far-fetched, but I really believe it to be something along these lines.
I am almost certain that it was printed this way at the factory, and I also believe whoever had it signed, had insider access to the band.
This is not about someone who got lucky in finding the only blank gatefold known to exist and then got lucky once again in meeting all 4 Smiths whilst carrying the sleeve around with them.

You may ask Mike Joyce via twitter, he might remember the story behind this!! Btw congrats, what a great find.

 

[jeff992]

That may be the case. You are the one with the record in front of you so you should be the best judge of whether it seems like it was printed blank or tampered with. I have never tried to scrape or peel off a thin layer like that. Seems like it'd be very hard to do it cleanly.

I don't think that's what anon is saying Jeff, he clearly states cut along the top and bottom seams and voila.

So here is my theory.
I think either one or several copies were mispressed at the factory and the sleeve/s were presented to the band prior to disposal.
The Smiths then decided to sign this one and either make it available as a one off competition prize or perhaps to be sold alongside regular copies at record stores for one lucky fan to find.
I know this may seem far-fetched, but I really believe it to be something along these lines.
I am almost certain that it was printed this way at the factory, and I also believe whoever had it signed, had insider access to the band.
This is not about someone who got lucky in finding the only blank gatefold known to exist and then got lucky once again in meeting all 4 Smiths whilst carrying the sleeve around with them.

 

[Anonymous]

Of course it's not been tampered with, it's a genuine blank sleeve.