ROLLING STONES GERMAN 1973 MONO TELEFUNKEN/DECCA 'AUDIOPHILE' PRESSING DEBUT LP

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ROLLING STONES ~ GERMAN 1973 MONO TELEFUNKEN/DECCA 'AUDIOPHILE' PRESSING OF DEBUT LP
THE ROLLING STONES "ROLLING STONES" LABEL: DECCA / TELEFUNKEN ~ DECCA S 17 005 P  (DECCA ~ 6.21695 AF) ORIGINALLY RELEASED: 1973 GERMAN MONO PRESSING ON THE TELEFUNKEN/DECCA LABEL  ORIGINAL MONO MIXING & MASTERING  RECORDING ENGINEER (1964): BILL FARLEY MASTERING ENGINEER: GERHARD SCHULZE MASTERING & LACQUERS: TELDEC STUDIOS HAMBURGE GERMANY RECORD COMPANY: TELDEC (TELEFUNKEN/DECCA) SCHALLPLATTEN GmbH PRESSED AT TELDEC PRESSING PLANT GmbH ~ HAMBURG, GERMANY CONTAINS THE ORIGINAL LARGE MICK JAGGER POSTER MATRIX (SIDE A): (Stamped) XARL-6271-II x 'Manufactured in Germany' (Ethched) S–I– H H MATRIX (SIDE B): (Stamped) XARL-6272-II  x 'Manufactured in Germany' (Etched) S–II– H  H
CONDITION:  VINYL: EX    JACKET: VG+    POSTER: VG (SPLIT) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've been going thru my massive vinyl record collection this winter and pulling out some LPs that I thought that someone else would want for their collection. I've been collecting records for over 45 years and it's time to pass some of them on to the next generation of collectors.
After all, we are just temporary 'caretakers' of these musical gems until the next owner and next collection takes them in.
This week on EBay I am offering up this fantastic, clean copy of a German Decca pressing called 'The Rolling Stones'. This is my original copy that I purchased back when it was 'new' and that I've taken great care of for many years. 
See the full description of the jacket, vinyl and poster condition below.
This was a 'new' release at the time, 1973, and although it looks like a 'modern' 70's album, it's technically a 'reissue' of the Rolling Stones' April 1964 first debut album.
This fantastic German album was first released in Europe in 1973 to coincide with the Stones' 1973 European tour. It was subsequently re-released several times over the years to coincide with other European Rolling Stones tours in 1976 and 1982.
At the time, this album was a newly remastered version of the Rolling Stones' 1964 debut album, cut by Gerhard Schulze, the legendry German mastering and lacquer cutting engineer. Schultze was the 'Bernie Grundman' of his day and worked as one of the head mastering engineers at the TELDEC Recording Studios in Hamburg. His hand-etched scribe marks, "S-I-H", are on both sides of this pressing.
Back when this was first released, this German pressing was considered among us American Stones collectors to be the best ultimate version of the Rolling Stones 1964 self-titled UK debut album available. It was promoted as a special, high quality 'Audiophile' level pressing at the time and it truly did, and still does, sound amazing.
This copy is an original pressing of this particular release with the 1970 date on the jacket and vinyl.
This is a deluxe pressing with fantastic updated cover art featuring 'modern' live concert photos of Mick Jagger and the band. These originals also came with a large Mick Jagger poster, reproducing the front cover artwork.
The back of the poster is pretty cool from an American perspective, as it shows all of the various German Decca Stones releases, some quite rare, up to the point this album was first released, the most 'recent' album shown being 'Let it Bleed'.
This pressing has a white spine with the catalog number 6.21695 AF printed at the bottom and the record does not contain the 'Bestell-Nr.' text on the labels, which was a later addition.
This pressing has the gold 'Telefunken' sticker applied directly to the jacket, in the upper right corner of the front cover.
Later releases had the boxed white 'DECCA' logo in the corner and the Decca catalog number, 'S 17 005 P' in the upper right of the back cover. Later re-issues can also be identified by the symbol of a cassette tape and its catalog number, DTB 80011 in the lower right of the back cover.
A rare, excellent condition, excellent sounding, German Mono pressing of the Rolling Stones first album. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the early days, the Rolling Stones were mostly known as a Rhythm & Blues cover band. They established themselves in the London club scene with a passion for R&B, the blues, and blues-inspired rock, popularized in the late 1950s by American acts like Muddy Waters, Bo Didley and Chuck Berry. 
In those early days, the songwriting capabilities of Jagger and Richards hadn’t yet been fully established, so the band looked to black American music, Blues and R&B, for their inspiration. 
The covers that the Stones recorded for their UK debut album were fantastic blues and R&B songs, many originally released on Chess Records, the label that gave them their biggest inspiration, but they also included homages to Motown, Soul and Gospel. ~
No British invasion band repackaged and reintroduced American R&B and blues back to American audiences better than the Rolling Stones. ~~~~~~
In 1964, when this album was first released, The Beatles were being marketed as your cute, boy-next-door-band, but the Rolling Stones were marketed as the dangerous, cigarette smoking, rough kids, hanging out down on the street corner, late at night.
The Rolling Stones, fueled by Brian Jones and Keith Richards love of American R&B and Blues, were bringing something far darker and far more dangerous to fans than the Merseybeat Pop the Beatles were selling.
That 'bad boy' image was reflected all over this debut album. ~~
On this 1964 debut album, few bands could effortlessly rock like the Rolling Stones could, and they show exactly how to give this style of music justice.
Charlie's bold powerful drumming combined with Bill's bass to create a chugging rhythm section that provided just the right groove for these songs. 
Brian Jones, with his keen passion for the blues and his unparalleled musical talent, was the dominant driving force in the group when this album was made. 
Brian’s playing was in the tradition of the Blues masters, while Keith was obsessed with Chuck Berry, R&B, and had a firm grasp on the Bo Diddley riff. Between them, they gave the Stones a unique sound.  Even in those earliest days, the Stones had a fantastic twin guitar sound.
This album is full of amazing blues and R&B covers that are played perfectly and tightly, with a menacing, raucous quality to them, thanks to the furious stinging guitar performances of Brian & Keith.
Brian and Keith had a great sound playing together. They developed what Keith has called the "ancient art of weaving" where they both simultaneously play lead and rhythm guitar at the same time, without clear boundaries between the two roles, often punctuating each other's work. It made the 2 guitars sound like four or five. 
On this record you can really hear Brian shine. The drugs hadn't taken over yet and he was still the master of his voice and instruments. 
Jones’ musicianship, Keith's guitar and Jagger’s unique vocals made this a fantastic debut album.
Mick Jagger's vocals are excellent: They are energetic and have an edge to them. He knew exactly how to sing this style of music and he sings every song with confidence. He creates a variety of moods and textures; soulful, sexy, sensuous, and his slurs and sneering are already present on this first album.
Mick Jagger’s voice became the band’s hallmark from this album onward.
Both Mick Jagger and Brian Jones play some wailing harmonica on this album and it's fascinating to hear their different styles.
Mick plays harp on "I'm a King Bee" and "Honest I Do", while Brian plays harp on "I Just Want to Make Love to You" and "Now I've Got a Witness".
Both are fantastic and masters of the instrument, but I prefer Mick's playing and style. These days, people forget what a talented harp player he was (is?). ~~
This was pretty wild, rebellious, and edgy music for its day and the Stones had more attitude than pretty much anybody else from the era!
The band's energetic and respectful treatment of this material results in some of the most enjoyable R&B tunes you'll ever hear. As pure, driven and genuine as anything they would ever do during the 'Brian years'. ~~~~~~~~~
This album contains fantastic covers of early upbeat American rockers like Cuck Berry's 'Carol', 'Route 66', 'Walking The Dog', 'Can I Get A Witness,' and 'Mona', plus a few American Blues classics like I'm A King Bee', and 'I Just Wanna Make Love To You'.
This amazing 1964 debut album consists of 12 tracks; 9 fantastic blues and R&B cover versions, one original song penned by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and two 'Nanker Phelge' group jam compositions.
The songs on this Mono German pressing of the UK version of the Stones' 1964 debut album include:
Route 66 I Just Wanna Make Love To You Honest I Do Mona Now I've Got A Witness (Like Uncle Phil And Uncle Gene) Little By Little I'm A King Bee Carol Tell Me (You're Coming Back) Can I Get A Witness You Can Make It If You Try Walking The Dog ~~~~~~~~~
This was recorded by the early classic lineup of the Stones, which featured Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Bill Wyman, and Charlie Watts. The album also included a few guest musicians:   Good friend and unofficial early band member Ian Stewart appears on five tracks, contributing driving piano and bluesy organ to the sessions.
Phil Spector and Gene Pitney both minorly contributed to the recording sessions, and are referred to as "Uncle Phil and Uncle Gene"  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE ALBUM'S RECORDING
This album was recorded at Regent Sound Studios on Denmark Street in London over the course of four days in early 1964. A 2-day recording session in early January, and another in late February 1964.
It was produced by then-manager Andrew Loog Oldham, who had little production experience at the time, and the sessions were recorded on a two-track Revox tape console by recording engineer Bill Farley.
Due to limited time, and an even more limited budget, there was very little studio editing and post-production work, very few re-takes, and almost no overdubbing.
Given those restrictions, the results are impressive and simply amazing. It's a real testament to the group’s brilliance, intimate knowledge of the material, and ability to play so well together that the final result is still one of the best albums to emerge from the early 1960s British blues boom.
This album comes as close as you can get to the live sound of the band at that time. The songs have a very raw, spontaneous, 'live in the studio' feel to them.
The band was touring and playing most every night during the four days it took to record this album, so they were essentially just laying down studio takes of the finely honed music that they already knew so well and played together, night after night.
Although recorded and cut at Regent Sound, one of the cheapest and least sophisticated studios in London, the crude equipment produced a fresh, raw sound. The microphones were old and vintage, lending an 'authentic' sound to the recordings. There is some distortion in the guitars and vocals, partly intentional, and partly due to studio limitations and the hurried process of recording the album.
60's British Pop producer Shel Talmy, who worked with the Kinks, the Who, and many other artists, described Regent Studios as “a shithole with egg boxes up to the ceiling for sound baffling”.
The 'limitations' of the studio resulted in an overall production sound that was very dense, dark and “heavy” for its era and it helped to define the Stones' overall early 'sound'.
The Rolling Stones debut album was a tribute to the blues and R&B sounds of the past, but also very much a taste of the new rock 'sound' of the future.
Keith Richards later reflected: “A first album can be incredible...all that energy… unbelievable! Under those primitive conditions it was easy to make the kind of sound we got on our first album and the early singles, but hard to make a much better one”.
In the UK, the debut album was released by Decca on April 14, 1964. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This amazing debut album consists of 12 tracks; 9 fantastic cover versions, one original song penned by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and two 'Nanker Phelge' group compositions, one with a little help from Phil Spector and Gene Pitney.
The songs on the record are arranged and sequenced perfectly, and this debut album opens and closes with two of the most intense, vibrant, powerful R&B numbers the Stones ever recorded during their early years.
The album kicks off on a high note with a rollicking take of Chuck Berry’s 1962 version of Nat King Cole's travelogue hit 'Route 66'. The Stones make the song all their own, playing at breakneck speed with a cool, driving, carefree attitude and guitars ablaze.
At the time, very few UK bands were this tight and could effortlessly rock out like this. Right from their beginning, the Rolling Stones were always a tight, well-oiled, rocking band.
The album closes out with another scorching rocker, a cover of Rufus Thomas' Top 10 hit 'Walking The Dog' that is also taken at breakneck speed.
This catchy tune was released in October 1963, just three months earlier, and was a 'current' hit on the American R&B charts when the Stones went into the studio and put their own spin on it.
The Stones version has an undeniably cool electric guitar solo in the middle, Brian Jones playing some amazing slide guitar, and even has Brian whistling the famous 'hook' of the song.
Perfect songs to open and close out this amazing debut album. In-between are all sorts of fantastic covers.   There's a blistering, guitars-ablaze version of their hero Chuck Berry's 1958 R&B hit ‘Carol’
They do a fantastic version of Bo Diddley’s hit ‘Mona (I Need You Baby)’. The Stones were huge fans of Bo Diddley, especially Keith, who mastered the Bo Diddly beat and riff. Their cover of 'Mona' brings a new, refined energy and vibrancy to Bo's 1957 original.
The album has its fair share of upbeat rockers, but the Stones also show off their other influences by covering some other less-known American R&B artists.
They do a great version of Jimmy Reed's 1957 R&B hit 'Honest I Do', and a terrific, bluesy, soulful version of 'You Can Make It If You Try', a 1958 R&B hit originally performed by gospel singer Gene Allison.
This album also contains some fantastic Blues covers, the other side of 'Rhythm & Blues'.
They do a fantastic version of Willie Dixon's 'I Just Want To Make Love To You', which was a hit for Muddy Waters in April 1954. The band put their own twist on it, changing the tempo and shifting to double speed during the middle eight, then returning to a slow blues groove. 
Side 2 of this album opens with one of the best songs on the album, a stinging cover of Slim Harpo’s 1957 classic ‘I’m A King Bee’.
The Stones do a fantastic version, but they change it up and make it their own with some amazing slide-guitar work by Brian Jones.
Charlie keeps a menacing, pounding drum beat while Brian plays blistering lead guitar and an excellent solo. In the middle, Brian adds a high-pitched, sliding, electric guitar effect that perfectly mimics the sound bees make when attacking and stinging. People forget what a great guitarist Brian Jones was and this song, literally, has a great 'bite' to it. ~~~
The group do an excellent cover of Marvin Gaye's 1963 Motown R&B hit 'Can I Get A Witness'
Marvin Gaye’s song was a 'current' hit on the American R&B charts at the time, but also had a catchy 'Pop' sound, and it was manager Andrew Oldham’s idea to cover the song and introduce it to white British audiences, thinking it could possibly be their next single.
In one of the funny stories in Rolling Stones lore, during recording at Regent sound Mick didn’t know the words and kept screwing up, wasting precious studio time, so, in the middle of recording, Andrew angrily sent Mick running across town over to Motown’s publishers office on Seville Row to pick up the sheet music so he could get the lyrics correct. The song never became a single, but the results are fantastic. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This deut album also included one 'original' composition, 'Tell Me (You're Coming Back To Me)', the first Jagger/Richards song to appear on an album! 
It was written the previous autumn, when manager Andrew Oldham notoriously locked Mick Jagger and Keith Richards inside the flat that the three of them shared on Mapesbury Road in north-west London, and kept them there until they eventually wrote a song.
For a first attempt, it's actually a quite good song, and showed the early promise of the many great songs that the 'Glimmer Twins' would eventually write and compose together! 
During the recording sessions at Regent Sound during January & February 1964, they taped two different versions of 'Tell Me', with and without Ian Stewart's piano. Both versions feature Keith playing some terrific 12-string guitar.
A shorter, edited version of the hit song became the first A-side single written by Jagger/Richards ever to be released.
Most Stones fans here in America are only familiar with the short, chopped, muddy sounding 'single' version that appears on many Stones records and compilations.
The version of "Tell Me" on this album is the original long version, with the middle section that was cut out of the edited 2:47 single version. On this German pressing, it sounds crisp, and much clearer and hotter than any edition of the song ever released in the U.S. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By the last day of recording at Regent Sound on February 4th, the Stones had final takes of some excellent songs ready to go, but they were running out of time, and still needed more material to create a full length album.
Phil Spector and his pal Gene Pitney happened to drop by to see how things were going. Spector knew the Stones from their recent January tour together with The Ronettes, and came by for a social visit. They listened to what new material the band recorded, and to some of the 'Nanker Phelge' group jams they had recorded, to see if anything could be used for the album.
Pitney pulled out a large bottle of brandy and started pouring. Spector took Jagger and a guitar off to the side, and together they worked out some lyrics and finishing touches for a song the band were previously messing around with.
Twenty minutes later, they came back with 'Little By Little', loosely based on Jimmy Reed’s 'Shame, Shame, Shame.'
Within the hour, with the tape rolling, the brandy soaked band hammered out an R&B hit with a sound that had one foot in America's rural cottonfields, and the other foot firmly planted in London's backstreets.
On the final take, Gene Pitney played piano while Phil Spector rattled a large, heavy British coin inside the now-empty brandy bottle. The album sleevenotes called his brandy bottle a “maraca”.
'Little by Little' was first released as the B-side to their 4th UK single 'Not Fade Away' in February 1964, but was also included on this debut album.
The Stones were relieved they had another song for the album 'in the can' and they spent the rest of the afternoon, and the rest of the recording studio time, fooling around and jamming.
The told their guests the funny 'lyrics' problem they encountered trying to record Marvin Gaye's 'Can I Get A Witness' and then started jamming, based on the chords of their Marvin Gaye cover.
What evolved was a completely new instrumental song, built around Ian Stewart's bluesy organ sound. It has some great solos, and, near the end, it contains a menacing, stinging, guitar solo by Keith Richards.
As a nod to the inspiration given by Marvin Gaye's Motown hit and that afternoon's guests, Andrew Oldham titled the new song "Now I've Got a Witness (Like Uncle Phil and Uncle Gene)"
It was the final song recorded, the final piece of the puzzle, and the Rolling Stones' fantastic debut LP was now finally finished. ~~~~~~~~~~~~
With the album finished, the band thought about an album cover.
Band manager Andrew Loog Oldham’s crazy mind and artistic creativity reached a peak with The Rolling Stones’ debut album cover art.
He created an album cover that bears no title, no band name or identity of the group, and no other identifying information other than a menacing looking photo of the full band, glaring at the photographer, Nicholas Wright. 
It was a totally "unheard of" design concept at the time.
The story goes that Andrew even fought hard to get Decca to remove their logo from the album cover, in order to make it look more artistic and unusual, but the record company refused, and the Decca logo remained in the top right corner.
Although the front cover gives no information as to who or what's inside, Oldham reveals lots of information on the back cover, stating: “The Rolling Stones are more than just a group...they have their fingers on the pulse of the basic premise of ‘pop’ music success...what they give you with this, their first album; a raw, exciting, basic approach to rhythm and blues.”
Upon its release in the UK, The Rolling Stones debut was an explosive event and the album became an instant classic. 
The 'New Musical Express' told its readers it was “probably the finest first LP ever” by a rock band, full of “frenetic primal magnificence”.
'The Rolling Stones' became one of 1964's biggest sellers, staying at #1 in the charts for twelve weeks. It was the first non-Beatles album to top the charts since May 1963.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~
'The Rolling Stones' was recorded in 2-track Mono and the album was initially only released in Mono in both the UK and US. No true stereo mix was ever made of those early tapes from Regent Sound.
Only later did the dreaded 're-processed' stereo versions appear. The mixing and sound on those early 're-processed' stereo records was rather poor and they didn’t sound very good at all.
In fact, all of the early Rolling Stones albums were originally intended to be Mono, and they sound best in Mono. Those early maroon label mono pressings can’t be beat.
This German Decca pressing is in crisp, clear, punchy, glorious Mono.
As a Rolling Stones fan and collector, I would suggest avoiding the inferior sounding 'reprocessed' stereo mixes of the first several albums. Before 'Aftermath', all those Rolling Stone albums sound best on the maroon mono pressings. Both the mono and stereo pressings of 'Aftermath', have their moments, and both are worth owning. Starting with 'Aftermath' and going forward, the true stereo pressing of their albums are definitely the way to go, although the mono 'Satanic Majesty' album also sounds great.
As an example of how much better and more desirable the Mono versions are, this past weekend, a fully analog, mono, remastered U.S. pressing of 'Out of Our Heads', containing the 'Satisfaction' single, was released for Record Store Day.
If you can afford it, the fantastic sounding 2016 Mono box set is a great way to get all the Rolling Stones' early material in perfect mono sound, the way the band intended it to be heard. ~~~~~~~~~~
VARIOUS EARLY PRESSINGS OF 'THE ROLLING STONES'
First UK pressings of the album, with matrix numbers ending in 1A/B or 2A/B, the 'KT' tax code in the matrix, and the red/silver Decca 'ffrr ear' label, have a rare 2:52 version of "Tell Me (You're Coming Back)", which was taken from the wrong master tape.
This was quickly noted and fixed with the 'correct' 4:06 version. 
Early First pressing labels and covers also have the 4th track on side one listed as "I Need You Baby" which was later changed to "Mona (I Need You Baby)", the word 'If' omitted from "You Can Make It If You Try", and Motown songwriter Lamont Dozier's name mis-spelled as 'Bozier'.
Later pressings have all these errors corrected and have a 'boxed' Decca logo at the top of the label.
Those early UK true First Pressings are a real 'Holy Grail' for us Stones collectors. I have one in my collection and have only seen a few others in my nearly 50 years of collecting records. ~~~~~~~
When the debut album was released six weeks later in America, on May 30, 1964, other than being on the London label, it had a slightly different album cover. The photo was the same, but with the band’s name featured prominently near the top. It also had an alternative title: 'England’s Newest Hit Makers' printed at the very top of the front cover.
The American First Pressings were on the maroon red London 'ffrr ear' label and came with a 12"x12" color insert/poster of the album jacket photo, which was advertised by a small banner in the bottom left corner of the cover. First pressings also have a 'start a fan club' box on the back cover over Keith's picture, and mastering engineer Pete Helffrich's name etched in the dead wax.
By the end of 1964, the free picture offer and the Fan club information on the back were gone from the album cover.
The US version also featured a slight alteration to the tracklist. It started off with a cover version of Buddy Holly's “Not Fade Away”, (the A-side of the band's current third UK single), replacing “I Need You Baby”.
Some song titles were shortened as well. “Now I’ve Got A Witness (Like Uncle Phil And Uncle Gene)” and “Tell Me (You’re Coming Back)” had their longer UK subtitles removed entirely.
'England’s Newest Hit Makers', as it was soon known, was a hit, but not as popular in the States as it was in the UK. It only reached #11 on the US charts, and, to this day, it remains the only Rolling Stones studio album not to enter the Top 5. ~~~~~~~~
Add this rare. classic, Rolling Stones record to your collection. It's a rare, excellent condition, excellent sounding, German Mono pressing of the Rolling Stones first album, a record that belongs in every classic rock vinyl collection. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CONDITION: I tried to show good hi-resolution photos of the cover, labels and vinyl in my pictures.
VINYL: The vinyl is still fantastic. Clean and bright. No obvious hairlines, scratches or damage. It looks perfect. I'll call it a conservative VG+, to keep everyone happy, but you can see from my photos how terrific it looks. 
LABELS. The labels are clean and bright and the spindle holes are clean and sharp, suggesting my infrequent or very careful play.
There is one small 'flaw' with the labels. Some of the songs have a very light pencil mark around the song number. It's light and can be easily erased, but I didn't want to damage the labels. It's something I stupidly did back in the 70's when I used my own records on my radio show, marking the best tracks. It's not a big deal, but should be pointed out. It's also why I'm calling the vinyl VG+; the vinyl is perfect, but the labels have faint marks.
JACKET: The jacket is excellent. Clean and bright. These European jackets were made from thinner cardboard and there is some mild, age-related wear to corners and edges from being in my collection for 40+ years, but as you can see it still looks fantastic.
THE POSTER: The poster, unfortunately, has been the victim of a Rock'n'Roll lifestyle. The image of Mick still looks great, but this poster has been hung on countless walls and music rooms over the decades and has split in half vertically. It can be taped back together, but it's had a rough life. At least it's still with the record, and it's 'all about the music' isn't it?
I've owned this record for decades and I've taken great care of it for many years. It's been poly-line sleeved, inside and out, and kept in great condition for over 45 years. It's about as good a copy of this rare release as you're likely to find. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** NOTE: I'm selling this rare record "AS IS" and "NO RETURN". It's rare and as described and I'm sure you'll be very happy with it. A great copy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’m recently retired and downsizing and letting go some gems and rarities from nearly 45 years of vinyl record collecting. Check out the many other fantastic 45s and 33s coming soon to my page!
All records have been carefully evaluated and graded by me. I visually inspect all records under bright light, personally gently clean them with a soft cloth and then, if unsure, play them on a modern high-end turntable to get a true picture of condition. 
Please look at all the high-resolution pictures I added. They are all my own and are of the actual record being sold. The pictures are part of the description and can show small details, label variations, and condition better than I can put into words. 
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THANK YOU for looking and reading if you got this far. I know I rambled on, but the Stones are my passion and I can't help it. I hope it was entertaining and informative.  -- JOHN