IS THIS RARE? PART TWO: OFFICIAL RARITIES

After looking at non-rarities in the first post of this series, I will now focus on actual rarities, starting with official items.

Rather than reviewing individual items, which would take forever as there are hundreds of real official rarities, I have organized this post by categories of rarities, starting with the most common items, and going all the way to the "boss level" of official rarities.

The Siserhood's Gift: UK test pressing, UK w/lbl and German w/lbl

So what kinds of items can be considered "rarities" when it comes to official items?

Let's dive in.

1. WEA-era promo releases

Basically boring. Mass produced, these items are basically NOT rare in themselves, hence their position at the bottom of this list. They become more interesting when they are accompanied by promo material such as press releases, press photos and the like.

US 12" promo of Dominion. Boring.

Are there some that are a bit less common? Sure.

The advance US 12" promo of This Corrosion didn't seem to have had such a wide distribution.

Advance US 12" promo with "ARTIST" labels. Not so common.

Another release that hasn't been so frequently seen is the UK 7" "DJ Edit" promo of More, which has a different version of the single on the A Side and different runouts than the commercial single. 

The UK advance promo LP of First And Last And Always with "1" and "2" labels is slightly less common, especially when it comes in its original Warner generic die-cut sleeve, identifiable by a small WB 1 printed in the top right corner of the sleeve.

Advance FALAA in its custom WB generic sleeve

While most promo releases are quite common, there are a few exceptions such as the 1984-1987 "A"/"B" label promos which are in fact extremely rare (rarer than most test pressings).

Walk Away/Poison Door 7" promo with A/B labels: if you find it, call me

2. WEA-era black label releases

Also boring. These also make the bottom of the list because most are very common as well. They were mass produced, and are both cheap and very easy to find. Unless they come with additional promo material or special packaging (such as the snake skin cover of the Lucretia black label), they are basically not very exciting to the collectors and won't qualify as rare items.

Are there some that are a bit less common? Sure. The Beggars Banquet's Rush Release double A-side UK black label 12" variant of Dominion is less common than the WEA promo 4-track black label variant,  especially when it comes with its original generic white die-cut sleeve with thumbcut.

Original generic die-cut sleeve with thumbcut that came with the rush release of Dominion 

Occasionally though, you may come across a genuine black label rarity, such as the black label version of Doctor Jeep UK 12" maxi single. While the SAM 739 black label promo is very common, the black label version of MR51T is very rare. So whenever you consider a black label, always double-check the appearance of the labels (double-dip vs flat for instance) and the runouts. You may discover something very scarce.

3. Stickered releases

Let's start with the promo stickers. From the moment the Sisters were signed to Warner in 1984, the label started to distribute free samples of commercial releases to stores and/or press. These samples have a "Promotional copy only, not for resale" sticker on them. Calling these "rarities" is generous as they are fairly common, but anyways, they are a bit more special than a regular commercial release.

Walk Away UK 12" w/ rectangular promo sticker

As a rule of thumb, the older the release, the rarer/more collectible the stickered item will be.

There are several kinds of promo stickers, sometimes used in conjunction: the most common are the round or rectangular "promo only" stickers, and the small price-tag-shaped German "PR" stickers (that comes with German promos). More interesting (and rare) stickers include PR team contact stickers and release date stickers. Having more than one sticker on the same item will definitely make it rarer. 

This Corrosion UK 7" promo w/ a nice WEA release date sticker

Promo stickers that come with local releases (that is: non UK, US and EU) are also rare and would make an item very valuable to the collectors. 

Floodland LP with Benelux promo stamp

What about hype stickers you may ask? Well, they usually won't make the item rare, but they are needed to make your item "complete". The best example is the UK 12" version of Walk Away that comes with the bonus Flexi, which will not be worth as much without its hype sticker.

In some cases, hype stickers are truly rare. This is the case of the original Swiss release of First And Last And Always, which had a sticker announcing the concert in Zurich.

Hype sticker for the Swiss FALAA: super rare

Another rare hype sticker to look for is the "Limited Edition Colored Vinyl" sticker that came affixed to the first pressing of the Belgian Temple of Love on red vinyl.

Hype sticker with Belgian red Temple of Love 12": nice find.

Finally, distributor stickers can also make an item more collectible. This is the case of the legendary American label Brain Eater Records which distributed the Sisters' first E.P. and 12-inch in the US. Brain Eater stickers exist in three colors: green, red/orange and black. Both The Reptile House and Temple Of Love can be found with these stickers.

Temple Of Love with green Brain Eater sticker

Other distributor stickers exist, including on French and Spanish copies. The most sough after of them is yet another US sticker: "Dutch East India Trading", which was the mother company of the Brain Eater Records label. It is even rarer than the Brain Eater ones, so definitely buy it if you see a copy sporting it.

The legendary Dutch East India Trading sticker

What about the "Made in" stickers? Well, I personally don't care much for them but some collectors do. It's not a bad idea to fetch a copy that has it when the opportunity arises.

Anaconda 7" with "Made in England" sticker

4. Stamped/Embossed/Punch-holed promos

Certain countries identify their promos without using stickers. There are three basic methods used on Sisters releases. The first is using gold or ink stamps. American, Canadian and Brazilian promo copies use gold stamps. If the US FALAA and Floodland copies with gold stamps are fairly common and shouldn't fetch much higher prices than their commercial counterparts, the Canadian and Brazilian gold-stamped promos are rarer.

Brazilian Floodland promo w/ gold stamp

Ink stamps are also used. Brazilian copies would typically have a gold stamp on the outer sleeve and blue, red or black ink stamps on the labels. When buying a Brazilian promo, make sure that all the stamps are present, not just the gold stamp. Other territories that use promo ink stamps include Italy and Uruguay.

Alice 12" with Italian promo stamp

Other territories use embossing to denote a promo. This is the case of France with use hexagonal embossing. French embossed promo releases are hard to find and quite valuable as a result.

French This Corrosion with embossed stamp

Finally, from 1987 onward, Italian promos were punch-holed. These are also nice items to get as they are not very easy to find.

Italian punched-hole promo copy of the EU 12" Dominion

5. Promo material

Promo sheets are printed information that usually accompanies a promo release. Press releases are a common variety of promo sheet. It's always better when the release is original and not a xerox copy. But a xerox copy is also valuable so don't throw it away if it comes with a release.

Vision Thing: UK, Brazilian and US press releases

Another common type of promo sheets is the "product facts" sheet. While the more recent ones are very common, those from the 1984-1985 era are much rarer and highly collectible.

UK and German product fact sheets for More

The third common type of promo material accompanying promo releases is the band's biography.

The Sisters Of Mercy: A Short History, courtesy of Elektra

Other interesting promo items are the 12"x12" in-store "flats", which are single or double-sided square advertisements the size of an album cover, that were meant to be put up by record stores to advertise the release. Both UK and US versions of these flats exist. They would be sent out along with sample copies of the record to stores and possibly also radio stations.

Dominion promo flat

A multitude of other printed promo items exist, such as PR sheets, marketing sheets, promo cards, reaction sheets and so forth. Any of these is interesting and will add value to your item and your collection.

This Corrosion UK 12" promo's Rush Release PR sheet and reaction sheet

One last item of note I want to mention is the 8p information booklet that was published by the American Brain Eater Records label and distributed with imported copies of Alice and possible the subsequent maxis. The booklet is quite rare and any copy that comes with it is a lot more collectible.

Brain Eater promo bootklet

6. Promo tapes

Some promo tapes can be quite rare.

Most WEA releases were distributed as white label promo cassettes. Some were duplicated by Tape-to-Tape, while others were just made in-house at the record company. Their value varies but they are overall pretty scarce and always a good item to add to your collection.

A white label cassette made at the time when FALAA got digitally remastered

In addition, some specially produced promo tapes are worth mentioning. This is the case of the Australian sampler that was produced for the release of Vision Thing.

Australian sampler promo cassette

Also interesting to the collectors are promo VHS tapes. They are quite rare as well.

UK promo tape for This Corrosion

Finally, one last item worth mentioning is the only known official release of Eldritch's spite band SSV, Go Figure, which our favorite bad boy lead singer used to fulfill and end his contract with Warner. Due to it being complete shit (uninspired techno without beats), Warner never released it officially, but two "white label" promo cassettes were issued, possibly to the press or at least internally. One cassette is the UK issue and the other is the German issue. Both are very rare as not many copies were made.

The German promo cassette. Shit music but very collectible...

7. Sealed editions

If you can get ahold of an original sealed copy of any Sisters release, especially the early ones, then you got yourself a true valuable rarity. The difficulty lies in determining whether the sealed copy you are considering is legit or has been repackaged in shrink wrap at a later stage. There is no real tip here, only your common sense and gut feeling. Knowing the history of the record also helps.

Sealed Argentinian Floodland: has seen better days...

8. Rare releases

While most commercial releases are pretty easy to find, there are some exceptions. But first, I want to reiterate my opinion that The Damage Done 7" is not rare. Hence I won't include it here. It's not rare because you can buy it any time you want. There are copies for sale as we speak on Discogs and eBay. Yes, it's expensive but it's readily available. Not so much the items below:

The Irish pressing of Walk Away 7" single is probably the rarest official commercial release out there, pretty much impossible to find. Another rare item is the South African pressing of This Corrosion 7" single, which was pressed at only 500 copies and is very scarce.

South African pressing of This Corrosion in label die-cut sleeve (likely a radio promo)

Another extremely rare release is the Uruguayan pressing of Floodland. Anybody lucky enough to locate a copy in any condition should jump at the opportunity. 

Uruguayan Floodland, with its unique blue back cover.

Another scarce item is the silver injection label variant of the UK 7" No Time To Cry.

9. Press kits

This is one of my favorite areas of collecting Sisters: trying to dig up full press kits for each of the Sisters releases. What are press kits? Usually they are made of these components: 

1. The record itself (either a promo release or a commercial release with a promo sticker or stamp);
2. A press release and/or band biography;
3. A press photo(s);
4. And sometimes, xerox copies of press clippings.

Elektra 1988 Floodland press kit

Ideally, the press kit should come with its original color-printed sheets, rather than xerox copies. Bonus point when it comes in its custom folder.

Custom Italian WEA folder containing the press kit for FALAA

10. Signed items

Autographed records are highly collectible. However, there are a few things that need to be said about signed memorabilia, especially records.

First, signatures must be authentic. Sadly, there are lots of fake signed Sisters of Mercy items out there, and before breaking the bank on an autographed item, it's always a good idea to double-check the authenticity of the signature(s). Knowing of the item's history will help. Asking experienced Sisters collectors will also help.

Second, it's always better that the signed item is not dedicated to someone specific. Having "To Helen" next to the signature will automatically devalue your item.

Helen, you ruined it...

Thirdly, it's always better to only have signatures of the original members who actually played on the record rather than a later incarnation of the band. Chris Catalyst's signature on an Alice 7" won't really do much. Conversely, having early members such as Ben Gunn's signature on an item is one of the holy grails of any Sisters collection.

Alice UK 12" with Ben Gunn's signature. Nice.

A caveat to the "must have played on the record" rule is Wayne Hussey. Having his signature along with the three other original members on any Sisters record doesn't seem to hurt. 

Fourth point worth mentioning, it's even better when the signature comes with a quote or message.

Signatures and more, always nice!

You get extra points for signed items where the signatures are in a perfect disposition, such as when they are lined up with the photos of each band member...

Craig's always the one standing out...

Finally it is worth mentioning that some signatures are much rarer than other. We already mentioned Ben Gunn's. We should add Patricia Morrison to the list. Since the Sisters didn't tour during the Floodland era, there were a lot less opportunities for fans to get both Andrew and Patricia's signatures on the LP and singles from that era. Signed items by both are thus very rare.

Eldritch signing over Pat's face is completely accidental...

Even rarer than Floodland-era signed items are Sisterhood-era autographs. If you can find any, you have got a very very rare item in your collection, congratulations!

Gift signed by Pat and Mr Vega

11. Rare press packages

Press packages are much rarer than press kits. They were usually produced for launch events and only distributed to a handful of people and are thus very very scarce. 

Some Girls Wander By Mistake release party press pack

Typically, the pack will contain a mix of items including press release, biography, press photos, etc. It usually comes in a custom container (custom envelop for instance). As with most categories of rarities, the older the press pack, the rarer and more valuable it is.

Sometimes, press packs contain unique items produced only for the event/package. This was the case for the German press pack of Some Girls Wander By Mistake, which came with a custom-printed record (actually not playable).

SGWBM press pack with the infamous unplayable red starred record

The Floodland press pack included a promo VHS with This Corrosion music video and the equally infamous This Corrosion T-shirt which came with its own catalogue number (MR 39TS). Another notorious press pack is the Elektra Vision Thing US 12" Sampler pack which includes a gold-printed black die-cut.

Vision Thing Sampler with the swanky gold-printed die-cut

We can't talk about rare press packages without mentioning one of the most sough after Sisters vinyl collectibles: the infamous WEA box(es). For years I was convinced they were fake since for me it didn't make sense that WEA would package releases that predated them signing the band and also that they would put out a box set that does not have their logo anywhere. It seems though, based on multiple independent sources, that these are genuine and that Wayne Hussey himself confirmed owning one... 

The black WEA box

Two different designs exist: the so-called "black box" with white print, and the so-called "white box" which is also black but sports a white square containing black print, a negative image of the text on the black box if you will. Some boxes come with promo material such as a press release, press clips and press photo(s). It seems as if each box had a different content, and some boxes only have the four 12-inches and nothing else. In theory also, the black box contains 1st editions of the maxis and the white box contains reissues with barcodes. However, I have come across all variations of records in both boxes so I am not sure this is accurate. 

And the white WEA box...

The white square on the white box is printed on the cover itself, and not a paper or plastic glued on. Unfortunately, both boxes have been faked many times out of Greece. Below is a comparison between a fake box and a real box. They may be several varieties of fakes, some better than the one I'm using below, so buyer's discretion is advised,

Comparison between a fake and the real WEA box

12. White labels

At the beginning of the list, we discussed the not-so-rare WEA black label promos. Plain white labels are, on the other hand, very rare. These were usually reserved for the inner circle of the band and some selected media, so few were pressed. I'm using "plain white" but these labels are sometimes pale blue or pale pink.

The only exception to this is for the period 1990-1993, where white labels were used as promos for the 7" singles and are therefore more common (relatively speaking). However, they weren't widely distributed the way WEA black labels were so they are still highly collectible.

White label promo of More 7" single, with hand-written release date

Older white labels, on the other hand, are extremely hard to find and thus very very expensive. They are so rare that most of them don't even have Discogs entries.

Lucretia UK 7-inch white label, super rare

Another important thing to note is that white labels can actually be test pressings in certain territories such as Germany. So if you find a German white label pressing, it is likely a test pressing and not a promo. 

Another white/pink label which is possibly a test pressing is the UK pressing of Floodland since plain black labels of the album were subsequently issued and distributed for promotional purposes.

Floodland UK LP white/pink labels

13. Test pressings

You can't go wrong with a test pressing as long as they are genuine. Any legit test press is rare and highly collectible. 

The most obviously interesting are the Mayking pressings with Echantillon labels which were pressed in France for all the early 7" and 12" UK releases (pre-WEA). They were made in small quantities (about 20 copies per run) with sometimes two or three runs per release. Each run is date-stamped with a different date, and completists will want all the different runs.

Temple Of Love 12" Mayking test press, 1st run (dated 18 August 83) 

The 12" of Temple of Love and The Reptile House have been put up for sale quite often, but Alice and all the 7" are much more scarce.

Body Electric UK 7" Mayking test press, a nice one if you can catch it

Next on the obvious list are the US test pressings pressed by Specialty Corporation for Elektra between 1984-1991. The Floodland era 12" are not too hard to find, but the LPs and all the FALAA era pressings are much more scarce.

Walk Away/Black Planet US Specialty test press, with the infamous "Diff Mix" of Walk Away...

More elusive and therefore much more rare are all the non-UK, non-US test pressings: German, South-American, Japanese, Australian, Belgian... If you can dig up any of these, you can bet you are only one of a handful of collectors who has ever seen it, let alone owned it.

Floodland Uruguayan TP, very exotic

Another interesting category of test pressings is the reissues. It seems as if contemporary record labels are better at preventing leaks and therefore, it is very hard to get ahold of any modern (i.e. post 1993) test pressing. Some that have made their way out to the collectors base are the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab US remasters. 

Floodland MOFI test pressing

What is better than a test pressing? A test pressing with bells and whistles, such as additional promo material (stickers, promo sheets...) or an autograph, or even better, an autograph and a quote.

I started this category with a caveat: test pressings are highly collectible if/when they are genuine. There are unfortunately fakes out there. Thankfully, it seems that most fake test pressings are not trying to imitate the real ones, but are trying to pass as their own unique release.

The most well known set of fakes is probably the triptych Damage Done/Alice/Anaconda with black and white Porky's labels. George Peckham aka Porky was a famous lacquer cutter and sound engineer, and he did cut some Sisters acetates, but he never pressed any records and therefore there are no legit test pressings bearing his famous pig labels.

Wish it was legit but it ain't

That being said, these fakes are also very rare and quite legendary, and thus valuable in their own right. So if you come across any, don't throw them in the bin.

14. Acetates

This is the end of the journey my friends. We are hitting the boss level of collecting official Sisters records. Genuine acetates are without a doubt the most scarce and valuable Sisters collectibles out there. Unlike vinyls, acetates are cut and are usually made of a glass or metal like material which is extremely brittle and fragile. Used in an early step in the preparation of the pressing of a release, they were made in very limited quantities, and sometimes only one exists. This is the case of the legendary Damage Done acetate, which was originally owned by Gary Marx before he sold all his Sisters items after quitting the band to form Ghost Dance.

It doesn't get scarcer and more valuable than this: THE one and only Damage Done acetate

Acetates are known to exist for most of the early releases: Body Electric, Alice, Temple of Love... Strangely, they get scarcer as years go by in the Sisters chronology.

Alice s/sided 10' acetate, another exceptional piece

Other interesting pieces include the Giving Ground 10" acetate, the Sisterhood's first and only single.

All the more interesting that it contains an unreleased mix...

Sadly, most of the later acetates are fakes. It is most certainly the case for the "City to City" Doctor Jeep for instance.

City to City acetate of Doctor Jeep Edit. Most likely not genuine.

The problem with acetates is that they are much cheaper to produce than a vinyl run. Pressing plants will sometimes let you order a very small quantity of acetates, perhaps even just one copy, unlike vinyls for which the smallest possible order is usually 100 copies. Even though an individual acetate costs more to produce, it is still cheaper to order 5 acetates than 100 vinyls, hence the relative frequent occurrence of fake acetates. Also acetates are much more obscure and therefore it is very difficult to determine whether an acetate is genuine or fake as most of the time, we can't compare them to known genuine versions as their history is not documented.

What to do then? The best protection against buying a fake is to follow some common sense rules. First ask about the history of the item. An acetate is rare enough that it should have a very clear and believable history (which is the case for the Damage Done acetate for instance). Second, be extra careful before buying any acetate from Greece or Italy. Most recent fakes originate from these two countries. And third, before buying an acetate, contact experienced collectors or ask the community (on the 1980-1985 Facebook group for instance). Even if nobody has a definite answer about your item, you will see where the consensus lands.

One of the most fiercely debated sets of acetates is the Elektra s/sided one-track series featuring almost all individual songs from First And Last And Always. Only one set appeared and was sold by a UK mail order record store. I personally don't think they are genuine but I have no facts to present save for my gut feeling. So they may be genuine and, regardless, they are extremely rare collectibles, which is basically the case for all fake acetates.

Logic Elektra promo acetate: I want to believe but... no.

That's it folks. Hope this was helpful. Don't hesitate to comment or contribute.