Beethoven "Eroica" Wilhelm Furtwangler

$

273

Here's one of the rarest of all Furtwangler LPs, his 1944 legendary wartime recording of Beethoven's 3rd, The Eroica Symphony, with the Vienna Philharmonic.  
As I approach LP grading more from an audiophile point of view, I believe that the play grade is more important than the visual grade.  Using the Goldmine visual standard, this LP is a perfect example of VG+.  Side one has the only visible scratch.  It is at 12:00, and is about 2" long.  It takes a left-hand turn at around 1".  Side 2 is free from any marks caused by clumsiness.  The label on side 2 has moderate spindle marking, while the label on side 1 shows that side 2 may have only been played 2-3 times.  Everybody play the first side of the Eroica more often!   
The jacket is definitely VG+.  There are no tears, but there is a slight split at the bottom of the jacket.  It also has the slight yellowing that any LP this age has.   I made no attempt to tape the little split shut.  If I did that somebody would get angry, so I'm leaving repairs up to the buyer.  A small piece of Scotch Tape is all that it needs.  BTW, the top and the spine are perfect!  
The play-grade is:
1/1: Edge and first 1/2 is VG+ as in moderately ticky. n The rest of 1/1 is VG++  1/2 VG+  2/1 VG+ 2/2 VG+
I am grading this LP an overall VG+, because VG would imply that there are some scratches that is deep enough to feel.  There are none.  This LP feels silky smooth, and side 2 looks very nice  The edges have the typical hairline marks, and the sound of the edges would never be mistaken for an audiophile pressing.  Also, I won't make any claims that I can see the causes of any noises.  Anyone who knows old vinyl knows that LPs that look bad often play quiet, and LPs that look perfect can be very noisy.  Urania never pressed on particularly quiet vinyl, although they did improve their sound and they're vinyl by the time they added stereo LPs to their catalog.  This LP was made a few years before stereo.  
The play-grading was done on a Luxman PD300 belt drive turntable, with a Micro Seiki tonearm, and a NOS Audioquest moving coil cartridge.  I've owned quieter phono cartridges, so I expect the buyer will obtain better results with a cartridge better suited for historical recordings.  One of today's mono cartridges would be great for this LP.  Do check the Ortofon website for info on mono phono cartridges  I would also recommend one of the conical tipped Denon 103 series MCs.  They are very good at playing mono LPs, and so is the AT OC9.  Grados are also great choices for mono playback, and as any Grado user know, you can't beat Grado's sound for classical music.
Last but not least, need I tell anybody that this is a great performance?  If you know Furtwangler, then you already what he did for Beethoven's music!