We have a lot of younger members now in Carpenters fandom, and I've just run across something from 2004 that was a bit of fun and excitement. That was the year of the 35th Anniversary and many of us were buying the 35th Anniversary box set from Japan. But Universal in the US offered something of interest too. The company had released a two-disc CD set called GOLD. The UK had a one-disc GOLD, but the US was getting a two-disc version with "35th Anniversary Edition" printed on the cover.
And the extra-special thing that Universal arranged back in February of 2004 was for 100 sets of these GOLD CDs to have a gold signature of Richard Carpenter on the front, special-printed discs, and a rear-cover gold stamp indicating the # of the 100 sets. Then they sort of randomly placed these sets on eBay, usually five to 10 at a time in random # sequence. So you could bid on #63 for example, and on #45 or #36 or #99 or whatever was offered. Each action had a standard 7-day eBay window and you'd bid and watch and re-bid - whatever.
As I recall, I wasn't in the initial group of bidders, as final price-bids were going through the roof (over $100 for some). And I seem to recall that I waffled a bit. Was it worth it? Most were selling around that $100 mark, but every now and then one squeaked through at a little less of a bid. I waited a week or so and spotted #012/100 with few or no bids for some reason. It could be that the fervent excitement had waned a bit, but I kept an eye on that auction. Ultimately I succeeded and won that #012 set.
Before they were all sold out, a number of the sets were modified to be mounted on a wooden plaque. Since I'd already gotten a standard signed set, I didn't bid on the plaques. If memory serves, our @Rick-An Ordinary Fool got one of those.
Anyway, while rooting through my desk today I came upon the printed "Certificate of Authenticity" that Universal also issued to the bidder/buyer/winners. I can scarcely recall ever seeing any of these being re-sold on eBay. Early on there were a few "flippers" who got one or two and then re-sold them, but as there are only 100 out there, they're pretty rare. Until now, I don't think very many images of these sets have appeared online.
But now I'm going to share my scans of the set, right here:
And the extra-special thing that Universal arranged back in February of 2004 was for 100 sets of these GOLD CDs to have a gold signature of Richard Carpenter on the front, special-printed discs, and a rear-cover gold stamp indicating the # of the 100 sets. Then they sort of randomly placed these sets on eBay, usually five to 10 at a time in random # sequence. So you could bid on #63 for example, and on #45 or #36 or #99 or whatever was offered. Each action had a standard 7-day eBay window and you'd bid and watch and re-bid - whatever.
As I recall, I wasn't in the initial group of bidders, as final price-bids were going through the roof (over $100 for some). And I seem to recall that I waffled a bit. Was it worth it? Most were selling around that $100 mark, but every now and then one squeaked through at a little less of a bid. I waited a week or so and spotted #012/100 with few or no bids for some reason. It could be that the fervent excitement had waned a bit, but I kept an eye on that auction. Ultimately I succeeded and won that #012 set.
Before they were all sold out, a number of the sets were modified to be mounted on a wooden plaque. Since I'd already gotten a standard signed set, I didn't bid on the plaques. If memory serves, our @Rick-An Ordinary Fool got one of those.
Anyway, while rooting through my desk today I came upon the printed "Certificate of Authenticity" that Universal also issued to the bidder/buyer/winners. I can scarcely recall ever seeing any of these being re-sold on eBay. Early on there were a few "flippers" who got one or two and then re-sold them, but as there are only 100 out there, they're pretty rare. Until now, I don't think very many images of these sets have appeared online.
But now I'm going to share my scans of the set, right here:
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