On a whim I stopped at a local yard sale and low and behold I saw a box full of albums. I started thumbing through them, finding a mix of rock and jazz. Nothing of much collectable interest and I was just about to give up at about 3/4 through when I saw one still in plastic wrap.

OMG!!! It was Pink Floyd's Division Bell, still in the factory shrink wrapping!
I got weak in the knees considering I had been attempting to find this very album for a few years now.

I gladly paid the price, trying to keep my hands from shaking with excitement.
Now here's my question, I know a limited number of these were released in the US as blue vinyl, others were the standard, black. How does one verify which is which without opening the album?

The control number is: C 64200

I've looked and looked at numerous Floyd album sites and haven't been able to find anything concrete on this. One site lists both the blue and the black control numbers as C64200; yet another site lists the blue as C 64200-1, the black as C64200 and yet another states there's a red vinyl edition out there as well.

Info, Links, etc. would be great, thanks.

I'm pretty sure you'd need to open the album to find out. Which I would assume you'd do anyway, since one normally buys albums to listen to them. My copy still has the original shrink-wrap on it as well, I just make a slit in the side so I could take the inner sleeve in and out to play the album.

(07-04-2012 03:57 PM)Lady Floydian Wrote:  I'm pretty sure you'd need to open the album to find out. Which I would assume you'd do anyway, since one normally buys albums to listen to them. My copy still has the original shrink-wrap on it as well, I just make a slit in the side so I could take the inner sleeve in and out to play the album.

OMG!!!! NO NO NO NO NO....did I say "NO"?...;)
This (and any others I find that are still sealed) will remain sealed. These are just going into my collection, they will NEVER be opened/played. That's what cheap CDs are for.

I would think there's some way to verify if it's one of the limited edition blue pressings or just a standard black pressing. Either way, it's never going to be opened, at least not by me.

(07-04-2012 04:24 PM)Seamus my old hound Wrote:  

(07-04-2012 03:57 PM)Lady Floydian Wrote:  I'm pretty sure you'd need to open the album to find out. Which I would assume you'd do anyway, since one normally buys albums to listen to them. My copy still has the original shrink-wrap on it as well, I just make a slit in the side so I could take the inner sleeve in and out to play the album.

OMG!!!! NO NO NO NO NO....did I say "NO"?...;)
This (and any others I find that are still sealed) will remain sealed. These are just going into my collection, they will NEVER be opened/played. That's what cheap CDs are for.

I would think there's some way to verify if it's one of the limited edition blue pressings or just a standard black pressing. Either way, it's never going to be opened, at least not by me.

Send it to me and I'll open it for you...

You should definately, not only open it, but actually play it as well.
It's better you see, some of the tracks have been shortened to fit the vinyl format and I think the album gaines from this. I find the CD too long and always play the LP instead.
It also has a warmer sound.

I agree with Silverpot.........play the record. It does sound different ( in a good way)

As far as the control #'s...I've seen both black and blue pressings with C64200. There is a red on ebay, but no control #.

I mean, if you don't want to play it that's fine, it's your choice.....but the Floyd sounds much better in analog than they do in digital, although the recent remasterings are pretty damn good. I paid $60 for my copy of TDB and the reason I play it is because I'm not likely to find another one that I can keep sealed or what have you; there weren't many vinyl pressings made of the album in the US, because vinyl was no longer the dominant medium in 1994. I could always get an import, but that would be more expensive than finding a domestic copy for sale.

Maybe I should have been clearer on this matter.
I'm a collector of albums, not a player. I hunt for the odd, rare finds to collect, not play. Playing or opening a sealed album, causes the value to drop drastically.

To a point I do agree with some of the comments here, that listening to PF on vinyl is far better than on CD, no doubt. But considering vinyl albums, or albums in general are things of the past, they have become much more valuable and finding one that is still sealed (especially one that I don't already have in sealed form) is a major find for me.

Again, I bought this album as a collector. If I want to hear the vinyl version of the album, I'll buy one that is already opened.

One of these days I should sit down and list my collection and post it here.

I've got this LP in 7 different colours & one Korean double LP.

The best way to tell if it's an original Division Bell LP is by the spine.

http://www.pinkfloydarchives.com/Discog/...http://www.pinkfloydarchives.com/Discog/US/LP/TDB/TDB

The target logos are spaced differently on all the fakes.

http://digilander.libero.it/mrpinky/fakes.htm

Yes it helps if you can read Italian.

When looking at the vinyl it's easy to see the difference in between the original and the fakes.

No Pink Floyd LP's were sealed at the factory but some were sealed by different dealers.

I was offered a new Division Bell LP the other day by a seller in the US, I'm dying to get my hands on a clear fake, but as the dealer couldn't tell me what colour it was I passed.

A new original US light Blue pressing would have to be worth about $200.
An unopened fake would be worth about $40, but some people will pay more as they don't know it's a fake.