Do You Want To Know A Secret



Auctioned on eBay in December 2005

Unreleased Beatles Single/
1968 Dear Prudence 7"

British Dick James Acetate
- Only Copy in the World?

Item location: Milton Keynes - Bucks
United Kingdom

To celebrate becoming the fourth biggest UK music seller on eBay, we're listing the rarest record we have ever encountered in our many years buying and selling records.

This is possibly the only copy in the world of Dear Prudence by The Beatles on UK 7" Single.

This Dick James Music acetate originates from 1968, and was uncovered some years ago after the death of an ardent record collector in North London. While acetate singles (created by the record company and pressing plant before getting the go ahead to go into full production) are very rare in themselves, Dear Prudence was never actually released as a single by The Beatles.

The label reads in red text "Demo Disc" , "Dick James Music Limited" , "45 RPM" , "01 836 4864 " , "Title" , "Artist". Then typed in black are "Dear Prudence" , "The Beatles". There is also the name of a previous owner written in pen "Benfinch", but more interestingly a signed initial in red ink to the right of the "Dick James" logo. I can't really work out the initials, but is it possible it's been initialled by Dick James himself?

This is one of those records than anyone involved with buying and selling singles and LPs would be very reluctant to sell. Indeed, it's only when we were recently offered several thousand pounds worth of other records in exchange for it, that its incredible rarity, and value, became apparent.

Research has been incredibly difficult, many hours going through Google has led me to discover pictures of similar looking acetate (or factory test pressing) singles, but I have not found any mention of Dear Prudence even making it onto acetate.

The Beatles collectors I have contacted have been vague about it's value, but eager to trade or purchase it. So, here it is on Ebay, where it will hopefully find its true worth. For that reason this auction starts at just a penny. Since spending so long searching for another similar item, I could quite believe this is the only copy left in existence of this single.

Condition is something which I'm very pleased to tell you is very good. From my research it seems all other Beatles acetates which have surfaced over the years are in really bad condition, a common phrase is "it's still possible to hear the music over the crackle". Not so with this one, I would grade this visually as VG-, but it actually plays a lot better than that, a rich deep sound, no noticable noise or crackle, no jumps or skips. Lovely tone and quality recording. I did only play it once (and recorded it so I could listen again)

As far as I can tell, this is the same version as featured on "The Beatles" (White Album), though the instrumental ending is slightly shorter.

And that just about covers it. I guarantee this record's authenticity, I'm afraid there is no other information I can find about it to give you, there is no matrix number on acetate singles.