Factory Samples

There is a lot of dicussion on the "Factory Sample" stickered discs; what are they, what were they used for, are they actually worth what I paid?! This article looks at the LPs, EPs and singles that have a red and white 'Factory Sample' sticker attached to the record label and includes a gallery of the types of sticker in use - there are fake stickers out there!

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HISTORY
The first thing to look at is what these discs were used for. This is still in discussion and there are a few ideas as to their origins. The most likely are the following:

1. The Factory Samples were used as promotional discs given out to record reviewers and the like.

2. They were sold to EMI workers who were able to buy them at a discounted price. To deter them from buying at this lower price and then selling them on for the full RRP, the 'Factory Sample' sticker was glued on.

They are quite rare today and do command a premium over normal copies but the sticker does not necessarily mean the disc is a promotional copy. One interesting thing we've noticed is that the general condition of these Factory Samples is excellent, many copies BeatlesCollecting have bought over the years have been in EX or even NM. This could lend sway to the first use listed above, that of being used for review purposes and then stored away. Although this does not explain the later reissues of LPs which have a sticker on - these ones give credence to the second possibility of the discounted sales.

We have seen stickers on practically every Beatles disc although they appear more frequently on the Parlophone LPs and singles, less so on the Apple releases. Factory Sample EPs are pretty uncommon, we have only seen half a dozen or so.

FAKES
At the start of this article we mentioned there are non-genuine FS stickers out there on the market. Or rather, sometimes the labels are indeed genuine but have been unglued from other discs and reapplied on a Beatles disc. We have come across many 60s EMI subsidiary discs from Tamla Motown's to HMV's with these stickers on, but only the Beatles varieties seem to command a premium figure.

Many people would argue that a lot of what we would deem counterfeits are just minor mistakes and variations by EMI, but these variations only ever seem to surface on Beatles discs.

So far as we have found, there are several common mistakes seen on the counterfeit FS stickers. which are detailed below. If one, or more than one, of the conditions describing a fake disc applies to one you own, then presume that copy to be a fake. As there is so much suspicion on Factory Sample stickers even the slightest of doubts in a collector's mind will put them off buying one. They ARE easy to fake, but they are fairly difficult to fake to such a degree that they are indistinguishable from a real one. Unless of course the sticker has been successfully peeled from another disc and applied - yet there are still tell tale marks that give this away...

The guide below is in a rough order of what is likely to be a counterfeit example so that point 1 would clearly indicates a fake while point 9 is an aspect to take into consideration if some of the other points apply to your disc.

IS YOUR COPY A FAKE?

1. The most common sign of a forgery is the use of the wrong type of design for that period disc. At the bottom of this page is a gallery of some genuine stickers on correct-era discs. See for an example this copy of Love Me Do sold on eBay a couple of years ago. The label is absolutely incorrect for this pressing and the sticker itself looks larger than anything produced in the 70s or even 80s. Someone paid over £80 for this.

FAKE

 

2. Roughly cut edges are a definite sign of fakery. Genuine FS stickers had sharply cut, straight edges. Compare the two pictures below. On the forged sticker you can see the edges of the triangular ends are rounded - something we've never seen on the EMI stickers. In addition to that, the cuts aren't straight. If you look at the picture of the fake below, the bottom edges of the sticker by the triangular edges don't line up with the top edge.

FAKE

GENUINE

 

3. Print quality is an area that is instantly recognisable. There are many copies around whose print quality is not as high as that of the original EMI stickers. By print quality we don't necessarily mean that the colour is smooth and without missing patches, but moreso that there were never 'blotchy' fonts such as that you get with inkjet prinouts. Anyone with a low- to mid-end printer can understand what we mean especially when printing small font sizes.

There are many cases of original FS stickers having small patches of the text missing - see for example the following photo. You can see there is a scratch in the print on the F of 'FOR' and a bit missing off the top bar of the E of 'SAMPLE'. On some examples the O of 'NOT' or 'FOR' have a gap at the top. This is not a sign of a fake - indeed this feature is more likely to indicate a real sticker than a fake.

GENUINE

It is quite hard to photograph or scan in what we mean by the 'blotchy' look of a printer, it's easier for you to try yourselves at home, but below you can see that the text isn't quite straight around the edges. It's slightly bobbley and fuzzy and under close scrutiny you can make out small circles of ink, something an inkjet printer does that the printing machines in the 60s never did.
The quality of the actual scan isn't great as for some reason the scanner was having trouble capturing it clearly, but you can see what we mean.

FAKE

 

4. On the subject of font, a major issue that identifies a home-made sticker is the font itself. Modern day Times New Roman font does not appear to be quite the same as the variation used in the 1960s EMI printing machines. There is one very subtle but instantly noticeable difference between the original EMI stickers and that produced within a word processing software on a PC.

Compare the following photos of the A from 'SALE'. The fake example on the left has a much higher triangular centre than the original sticker on the right. On fake stickers this internal triangle in the A reaches up quite a bit higher than on genuine examples. While this A character is the most obvious, there are other minor differences in the font elsewhere too such as the bars at the top and bottom of the E of 'SALE' being very thin on original copies, and much thicker on fakes.

FAKE	GENUINE

5. One obvious thing to look for is whether there are any marks on the record labels that seem to continue underneath the stickers. This instantly gives away a fake example as these stickers were placed on the labels before leaving the factory.

Another giveaway for a slapdash peel which we've only seen a few times is documented in the picture below. Not only is the sticker below completely wrong font-wise, design-wise, size-wise and even record company-wise for this single, on the left hand side of the sticker you can make out a beaded mark just below and to the left of the 'hole' in the P of Parlophone. Yes, that's the indentation of the rim around the edge of the original disc this label was obviously attached to.

This is perhaps the funniest fake we've come across. I'd buy this purely for the comedy factor... Sadly, someone else bought it thinking it was original.

FAKE

 

6. The sticker is always evenly sized. The copy below, which happens to be the same as the fake above in point 3, isn't the same height all the way along the sticker. The right hand side bottom edge seems to slope upwards by 1mm - big enough to be noticeable wonky.

FAKE

 

7. The paper quality is an area that can only be really ascertained when you have the disc in your hand, although if the sticker is very bright white without any scuffs on it while the rest of the labels have marks, then be dubious. There are some very nice condition stickers which are clean and white, but most have gone a pale off-white colour.

Original stickers should feel smooth, but not glossy, when you run your finger over them. Most noticeably, original stickers are quite thin unlike the printer paper copies we've found which are relatively thick.

 

8. A common issue is placement of the sticker on the label. 9 times out of 10, original FS stickers were positioned over the Parlophone logo or in a similar geographic position on the Apple labels. In some rare cases it was positioned elsewhere in that general area so it isn't set in stone, but again, look carefully for other details if it isn't over the Parlophone £ logo or Parlophone text.

If the sticker is obscuring some of the pushout centre gaps, in our opinion it is a possible counterfeit. Again, this is an occurrence we haven't yet spotted on non-Beatles FS examples so leads us to be wary.

 

9. Removing genuine FS stickers can be very tough, they tear very easily when removing even when soaked in alcohol based fluids. As such, if you find a sticker that has a tear it may have been transferred from another disc but it could also have been subject to a previous owner attempting to remove them in the past. We have heard from someone who successfully removed FS stickers from their discs back in the 70s as they felt they were ugly, so over the decades the glue has seemingly become rock solid. Although we have seen evidence of clean peels.

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The proliferaton of non-genuine stickers have lead to FS copies' prices slipping in recent years. A while ago a NM LP with the sticker could have fetched £200, now it may only be £80. Our advice to you as collectors is to be wary! If the sticker looks good, is the right design for the period and is in the right position then you probably have a genuine Factory Sample disc. Refrain from spending large sums of money on possible ones on Internet auction sites unless they have very clear photo's. The best way to satisfy yourself that you have a genuine FS is to have it in your hands!

But make no mistake, these are rare. Few turn up for sale but when they do, prices are cautiously low due to the number of fakes.

 

GENUINE STICKER GALLERY