Is my offering LP an “offprint” or fake?

[Kristopher]

hello this is my very first post after reading for several years. Im 29 and the carpenters are my favorite artist of alll time. My favorite song of theirs is Turn Away from Offering. Anyway I have 3 copies of offering on vinyl and one on 8 track. (I have 3 of everything on every format except reel and 4-track.)

I got my third copy a week ago. The record itself looks like a normal copy, has the same matrix, and same thickness. Logo is the same and label looks authentic. Came with the original inner sleeve with old record smell we all know.

Now the back the photo was tilted horizontially with the tracklist barely being cut off. Jacked looks authentic and there are no cracks in the spine. Looks like you just opened it but has the old record jacket smell. Anyone have experience with this? I figured out all the remastered classics 3 of each but stumped by this offering. No surface noise.

Could this be a fake or do I have an extremely valuable one of a kind factory flaws on my ha nds? Found in a small antique store for 50 cents. Thanks for

 

[Kristopher]

 

[Kristopher]

That should be 5 pics total. Thanks to anyone who can help!

 

[Another Son]

hello this is my very first post after reading for several years. Im 29 and the carpenters are my favorite artist of alll time. My favorite song of theirs is Turn Away from Offering. Anyway I have 3 copies of offering on vinyl and one on 8 track. (I have 3 of everything on every format except reel and 4-track.)

I got my third copy a week ago. The record itself looks like a normal copy, has the same matrix, and same thickness. Logo is the same and label looks authentic. Came with the original inner sleeve with old record smell we all know.

Now the back the photo was tilted horizontially with the tracklist barely being cut off. Jacked looks authentic and there are no cracks in the spine. Looks like you just opened it but has the old record jacket smell. Anyone have experience with this? I figured out all the remastered classics 3 of each but stumped by this offering. No surface noise.

Could this be a fake or do I have an extremely valuable one of a kind factory flaws on my ha nds? Found in a small antique store for 50 cents. Thanks for

Welcome, Kristopher....and G'day from Australia.

I don't really know, but the record looks authentic to me. The record label looks very authentic. The edges of the record cover look good and strong like they used to make 'em. Not sure about the stuck-on back cover with song list - looks a bit papery - but could well be original. My guess is that it's the real deal.

Great album, by the way.

Brian.

 

[Kristopher]

Do you think this would be worth more because of the factory flaw? I wouldnt sell it being mint and no signs of any wear unless i really needed the money. Its back on the shelf i have my third playing copy sitting on my dresser which i casually play. I prefer the original cover and title as it feels more organic.

The main reason im askinG is that if I were to sell this what do you think it may he worth? Might it decrease increase the value? Ive heard of higher value for baseball and pokemon cards that are called off prints. The back cover paper that factories stuck on feels identical to my other two copies.

Thanks Brian

 

[Another Son]

I personally think that it would be valuable because it was mint, (so don't play it), rather than valuable because it's flawed. Therefore, the slightly off-centre back cover is not likely to decrease or increase the value, in my opinion - but that's just my opinion. I'm not familiar with values, etc, though. Someone else would know more. Btw, the insert looks authentic, too. Bootleg records were around in the 70s but 'Ticket To Ride' was readily available then so it maybe wouldn't be very likely to fake an 'Offering', especially seeing as K&R were still around. Not sure if it would be worth the expense of manufacturing a run of fake 'Offering's now, but haven't checked values and I don't know demand. I'm just guessing without being very knowledgeable about these things. You're sure to hear from others soon.

 

[Kristopher]

Thanks Brian I appreciate all your inout very much!

 

[Another Son]

No worries...for what it's worth. Wait for the experts to come on.

 

[Harry]

Off the top of my head, this looks genuine. I'd like to compare it to my own copy for verification, but it sure looks genuine from the pictures. As for the skewed print on the back cover, these things happened. It wasn't an exact science and no-one really cared all that much as long as all the details were there. You might be able to talk a buyer into a few more dollars for the fact that it's a slight misprint, but as I always say, everything is worth zero until you actually sell it.

 

[Kristopher]

I appreciate all your advice, I’m convinced that its authentic.

 

[arthowson]

Love "Turn Away," by the way. In those days, Richard's voice was very MANLY and Karen's was very HUSKY.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I am sure that it's an authentic copy, but it's no more collectible than any other copy of Offering would be.

When I was in the record biz, I saw this kind of thing happen often, and I can tell you that something like this doesn't really add any value to the item. If the label was attached to the jacket upside down, say, or maybe was a controversial design that was changed (such as the Beatles famous "butcher block" cover) then that's different, but this is just a small factory goof and not something that would be considered collectible. (Well, unless you can find somebody that's interested in small factory goofs.)

Now, we have to keep in mind that this IS the Offering album, which is a bit of a rare bird in itself, so just being that particular album it's probably worth more than the average album from that time period. But this particular copy wouldn't be worth any more than any other copy in a similar condition, factory goof notwithstanding.

 

[Actorman]

50 cents!! That's awesome! I have only ever seen one copy of this album "in the wild" and they wanted $80 for it!! Lucky dog!!

I'll buy it from you for $5.00. That's 900% return on your investment.

 

[Mark-T]

For what its worth, I've never seen a copy of Offering in person.

 

[tomswift2002]

I bought my copy of Offering about 10 years ago for $2 at a white elephant sale. I currently have it framed (both sleve and disc) and hanging on my wall. I have a Ticket To Ride LP and Remastered Classics CD if I want to listen to the album.