How To Tell If You Have a Butcher Cover

It seems that with the start of "BeatleMania II" and Anthology people have had a renewed interest in the Beatles Butcher Cover. Lately I've had many questions about the BC but one that hasn't been addressed as yet is, "How do I know if I have a Butcher Cover underneath my Steamer Trunk cover?" This is not really a tough question but pictures work better than words. First, a few words.

Ways to tell

1. Covers with the "Gold Record Award" seal can NOT be Butchers.
2. On the back, lower-right-hand corner is a number. This will usually be a number, 2,3,4,5 or 6 denoting the Capitol Pressing Plant where that album was pressed.
3.
  1. Lp's must have a "slick" type cover. At that time, the Lp jackets were made in three pieces.
    1. Cardboard Jacket
    2. Back Slick which raps around to the front of the cover
    3. The front slick.
4. Sometimes the "Trunk" slick was pasted on sloppily and ended up offset. Then you can see part of the original cover underneath fairly easy.
5. "Pictured" to the right. If you look close, you can see
the bleed-through of Ringos V-neck shirt.		 [ graphic showing Ringo's V neck shirt ]
6. Most importantly. You ***MUST*** be able to see the bleed-through of Ringo's black V-Neck shirt or it is NOT a butcher. It is possible that the cover could be so dirty or worn that you may not be able to make that determination.

I hope this will help in determining if you have a Butcher Cover or not. If you have any questions that this page doesn't address on this topic please leave me Email.

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