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hardcore records on ebay — aggregated and examined
Class is in session! Below, Cooch breaks down the details that stand out about bootleg copies of United Blood. Don’t be swindled!
DUBIOUS EBAY AUCTIONS - BUYER BEWARE!
For some unknown (and embarrassing, at least to myself) reason I have never owned an original copy of Agnostic Front’s “United Blood” ep. I don’t know why this is, since I’ve had my hands on a good number of copies over the years and I own just about every other early NYHC record. So I decided this year I’m just going to plunk down the cash and buy one regardless of price (within reason). After getting beat on ebay for two bona-fide original copies around $300 within the last couple of months, I noticed a smattering of bootlegs for sale as originals.
I emailed the seller of the first copy, and he insisted it was real even though the cover has two telltale marks of the American made bootleg - the cover is a poor quality repro and the copyright information from the bottom of the back cover has made its way to the bottom of the front cover due to a poor print job (and as a result the repro is missing a bit of empty space over the AF banner that is present on the orig), and from the 2nd picture, the pressing marks do not match the original[1] (the boot has a wider diameter, shallower pressing stamper mark around the center hole, original is smaller and deeper). Anyways this unscrupulous seller (also selling many white power records, go figure) got $282 for this copy, I hope the buyer realized it was a boot upon receiving it and was able to get a refund (probably not).
Boot copy number two came up about a week later (sorry no link, same version as above) and I again emailed the seller to see what he thought, and the guy quickly realized it was a boot and canceled the listing. At least there are some honest people out there.
Currently listed copy #3 - Again this one looked like the shoddy cover bootleg so I emailed the seller. Here’s the back and forth -
Me: can you give me matrix information?
Seller: The matrix reads ; AF-001-A and BIOBH on the printed label side and the other label is black.
Me: Oh, that is a bootleg then, that “BIOBH” is actually the number 31634 and the B label should be white.
Seller: I dunno, the matrix #’s check out. If it is a boot, Its an older one, as these records were all purchased in the early 80’s.
At this point, the seller basically refused to acknowledge that he is selling a bootleg, or at least that he is misleading bidders who might believe it’s original, and thus is going to hose the high bidder for $160+ when the auction ends. Greedy/unscrupulous sellers like this are really what makes ebay a crapshoot to the entry level buyer, unfortunately. This seller also has up a lot of nice early 80’s USHC stuff, but obviously does not know much about the records themselves (many are incorrectly listed in regards to their respective pressings, see Minor Threat and Negative Approach 7″s), so, all I can say is… buyer beware!
Footnotes:
[1]Chalk it up to completely useless nerdery (but moreso being involved in releasing a good amount of records over the past 8-9 years), but you can differentiate pressings of certain records by the impression the pressing machine leaves around the center hole. On the original United Blood, the pressing mark is a small, deep circle about 1″ in diameter, and most other early 80’s NYHC singles have the same marks. I believe they were pressed by a plant called Variety that was located somewhere in the NYC area. Check your Mob 2nd 7″ for reference.
2 conflicting thoughts… (1) While these sellers are total scumbags if they don’t pull these / knowingly misrepresent them, (2) if you’re some rookie collector spending $300+ on records and don’t know what you’re doing / what you’re looking for / specific info… you kinda deserve what you get.
Yeah, that NA 7″ is definitely 2nd press, as well as the Filler 7″. I’ve never actually seen a United Blood 7″ in person, didn’t AF do an official repress in the late 80’s of this record? I seem to remember that. The guy does have some nice stuff though, DOA’s Right To Be Wild and The Offenders I Hate Myself caught my eye….
The “Offical Repress” (Proceeds benefit the No Justice, Just Us legal defense fund) did not have the same cover as the OG. There were two versions, one with a white cover and one black. Both simply say Agnostic Front in the stencil type font and “United Blood” ep below in olde english. The white cover one is on red vinyl and the black cover is blue vinyl.
How many of those were pressed? I still chuckle when I read the story of the Youth Crew pulling people away from record boxes in an effort to get rare HC records in Hardware, funny stuff!
i believe it’s 500 or 1000 of each color on the 89 repress.
I doubt there ar emore than a handful people worldwide who consciously try to trick people into buying bootlegs as genuine articles, it’s just people who don’t have a fucking clue about what they are selling. The thing with eBay is that EVERYONE ALWAYS call what they sell genuine, authentic, as new, rare, hard to find etc.
One of the best HC ep’s ever!
Maybe I am stating the obvious (I dont remember any pressing info anymore) but isn’t the “skinhead b-side label” a good way to tell an ‘83 OG? Was that version ever booted? As I recall, there were originally 500 of those, and 500 with blank white labels.
I also remember that the sleeve of the OG was a pocket sleeve, kinda shiny. It wasn’t super thick paper but definitely different material than the T&G or Dischord sleeves. It definitely did not have a poor folding job like the one above.
At $200, the skinhead b-side label one was the most I ever paid for a record - thankfully I sold it to some mongoloid for $500 a few years ago.
VARIETY!!! If you own the Major Conflict discography cd there is a live sound clip before the live tracks of Dito Montiel (?) dissing them for screwing with their record. my mob step forward 7″ is a mispressing (sometimes its good to actually listen to the records before selling/trading them!). side b sounds like an old babuszka crying at a death metal concert. not cool man.
glad I saw this post, I almost bid on that exact UB 7″. thanks CC and Bid Hardcore.
I think I have the AF United Blood EP with an insert original pressing from the sound of it. It has that white b side and the 1″ circle around the hole and it’s nice in almost perfect condition. I am so poor right now and these were in a box my dad said to me, “You said save this stuff don’t ever throw it a way” along with lots of pic of me in eyeliner etc… I just started looking into what they might be worth. I have a few others I think are really rare too I dont know. 7 Seconds Skin… EP and and Iron Cross , Hated and Proud and I think i have the original Minutemen, Crippled Children Suck. This is weird I a m glad I found this site thanks. It really is helping me like I was praying for some direction and I really got it. Thanks thanks.