Black Sabbath Paranoid Vertigo Swirl- What Pressing Do I have?

After the // there should either be a 1 or 2,indicating first press or second press,420 is the country code for the UK.

 

As far as I can tell its a small upside down triangle symbol after the //.

 

I'll have another look when I get home.

 

I have a gatefold outer sleeve, with large Vertigo swirl on side A and small swirl on side B. Deadwax information (where @ = upside down triangle):
Side A - 6360011 1Y//2@420 12 09C2 3
Side B - 6360011 2Y//2@420 12 8

Many of the characters after "420" are hard to read. So, apparently I have a U.K. second pressing? Thanking you in advance ...

 

be careful not to confuse what is meant by " large swirl " - all vertigo swirls ( unless there is an exception i am not aware of ) have the full label swirl on side one, the " Large swirl " refers to the swirl size on the side two label, the larger size was in use 69-70ish, after 1970 this swirl logo becomes smaller.

Yes do not worry too much about the splodges after the 420 they are a nightmare to decipher , the 1Y1 2Y2 is the more important info.

 

I think the variations for paranoid go, 1y1 2y1 / 1y1 2y2 / 1y2/2y2

 

1y1 2y1 would be the first, from memory i am not sure if Paranoid starts at 2y1 it probably does i'd have to check but many other albums can skip straight to 2y2 or 1y2, depends on the album.

 

1 - If your copy has hand-etched matrix numbers, your copy is a bootleg/unofficial release: all official UK Vertigo releases have stamped matrix numbers.

2 - Black Sabbath "Paranoid" UK release:

• 1st UK edition: sleeve is unlaminated on 1st pressing. The credit to Jim Simpson/Big Bear Managament on the outer sleeve was immediately withdrawn as soon as it was issued due to contractual disputes between the band and Big Bear: copies with unlaminated cover and without Big Bear credit exist.
• later UK editions: they have laminated sleeves, they have not Big Bear credits and label has the Vertigo wording moved to a location above the spindle hole (they are referred to as 'small swirl' Vertigo labels).

3 - Inner sleeves: there are Vertigo inner sleeves where the inner border is white, and there are inner sleeves where the inner border is black. The black inner border seems (there is no certainty) to have been adopted after the white one. A lot of Vertigo inner sleeves were date-coded; for example: MADE IN ENGLAND 67/024 does mean June 1970 24th week.

Hope it helps.

 

The 'black' Vertigo swirl inner sleeves show up in 1972. At least the ones I've seen/have are all 1972 date coded. In '73 they go back to white but now have the polyethylene liner. The swirls were still use in early 74. My Thin Lizzy Nightlife (spaceship Vertigo label) has the swirl inner, date coded 0374

 

I can add that Vertigo "swirl" design has been used in the UK since the autumn (October) of 1969 until December 1972 (the last Vertigo UK album with the swirl design was "Atlantis" released in December 1972) when it was replaced by the "Spaceship" design. From around mid 1971 onwards, appeared the so called "small swirl" design where the Vertigo wording moved to a location above the spindle hole.

The album "Paranoid" was released in September 1970; from what I said, your copy was probably pressed either in the second half of 1971 or in 1972; maybe your date coded Vertigo inner sleeve could be useful, remembering that the date printed on the inner sleeve does indicate the date when the inner itself was printed and it absolutely does not indicate the date when your record was pressed...

But, the most important thing, enjoy the UK Vertigo sound!

 

Thank you for your response. Regarding the swirls, I'll have to check on the size of the side B "small swirl": it does not cover the entire label, but I can't remember if it is above or below the spindle hole, or how large it is. Thanks again!

 

Unfortunately, the original inner sleeve is gone. I have played this album a couple of times, and compared it to my original Warner Brothers Canadian press. The Warner pressing is in better condition than the Vertigo, but I could tell the difference in the two records immediately.

 

If you post here a picture of the label (side B) of your copy, I can try to approximately date your copy: Vertigo UK label slightly changed its design (text layout, fonts etc) during the course of its short life.

 

I'll try and get a shot up tonight. Thanks!

 

Stefano G. - thanks for your informative response. Mine is a laminated gatefold outer sleeve, 1Y//2 and 2Y//2 "420" stampers, with small swirl and Vertigo above the spindle hole and the inner sleeve is stamped "4912 000 1532.1 N25 /78".

 

The number 4912 000 1532.1 does indicate the number of the Patent. Now, I'm not able to find this specific patent in the European Patent Register but I think the inner sleeve you have isn't the original one.

The European Patent Register is useful for record collectors because it can be consulted to verify our inner sleeves. For example: how many times did you see the number 1,125,555 printed on your inner sleeves? well: now you know that this patent was granted on March 25, 1966.

 

The inner information he supplied makes it German (or perhaps Dutch) made. From 1978.