I recently scored four original HMV UK pressings of Wilhelm Furtwängler leading the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in performances of Beehoven Symphony Nos. 3, 5, 6, and 7. Each symphony is on a single 12" LP, pressed on heavy vinyl (~ 180g if I had to guess).
I have taken a few chances lately on eBay and some of them didn't quite pan out. I bought several records from a seller who assured me that his grading is spot on, and yet the 8 LPs I bought that he insisted were near mint were essentially junk that was not fit to put on a turntable. So there went over $100 out the door and I am in the middle of working my way through an eBay Buyer Protection claim to get my money back. I really don't have the time or energy for this.
At roughly the same time I really went out on a limb and bought these rather expensive Furtwängler records from a dealer in Israel (don't even go there, the alarm bells were ringing in my head when I bought them so I knew I was probably asking for trouble). The Beethoven records arrived an hour ago and I was expecting to be very disappointed. Imagine, to my delight, taking these vintage records out of the sleeves and seeing four prinstine LPs that had not a single mark, scuff, scratch, or blemish of any kind. They had a brilliant vinyl shine. These records might have been on a turntable a few times, but if they were the original and subsequent owners took extraordinary care of them. They were indistinguishable from new. The laminated jackets were also in pristine condition, with the original HMV inner sleeve also in minty shape. The only evidence of their age was the slight yellowing of the inner sleeve near the edges.
I just finished listening to the Fifth symphony. It was absolutely perfect. No pops, no crackles, no clicks.
--Jerome
