Vee-Jay Records · 1964
Vee-Jay Introducing... The Beatles labels.
How to identify one.
Introducing... The Beatles (VJLP 1062 mono, SR 1062 stereo) came out on January 10, 1964, ten days before Capitol's Meet the Beatles!. Vee-Jay used several pressing plants and more than 30 authentic label and jacket combinations before its Beatles rights went to Capitol on October 15, 1964. Counterfeits followed from the late 1960s, and the rarebeatles.com guide calls it the world's most counterfeited album.
01
What to look for on the label
Check two things first. On a genuine label, INTRODUCING THE BEATLES and THE BEATLES both print above the spindle hole; most fakes put the group name below it. Then look for machine-stamped marks in the dead wax (AudioMatrix, MR in a circle, or APP in italics). The rarebeatles.com guide reports never finding a counterfeit with machine stamping; only genuine Santa Monica pressings lack it.
- Title and group name above the hole. Genuine labels stack the title and THE BEATLES above the spindle hole. A label with the title above and the group name below is the most common sign of a fake.
- Logos and label styles. Genuine discs use an oval Vee-Jay logo or a brackets VJ logo on a black label with a rainbow colorband, or a VJ block logo or oval in silver on plain black. Some add LONGPLAYING and MICROGROOVE beside the spindle hole.
- Glossy colorband, sharp silver print. Originals use glossy or semi-gloss colorband labels with smooth color changes and bright silver print. A flat-textured colorband, faint print, or a band missing some colors points to a fake. Genuine plain black labels are printed on flat stock.
- Label matrix proves nothing. Genuine labels show 63-3402 and 63-3403, but counterfeits copy those numbers too. The stamped marks in the runout and the label layout are better tests.
- Two track lists. Version 1 includes Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You. After a January 16, 1964 court order, Vee-Jay swapped in Please Please Me and Ask Me Why, and Version 2 was on sale around February 10, 1964.
- Jacket construction. Genuine jackets have glossy or semi-gloss slicks front and back, sharp printing, and about a 1/4-inch cardboard overlap inside the top and bottom edges. The first 6,000 front slicks read 'Printed in U.S.A.' vertically near the lower left.
02
What the label does not prove
A period-correct label narrows the search. It does not replace the album-specific matrix, jacket, and format checks.
- Trusting the catalog number or the 63-3402 and 63-3403 label matrix. Counterfeits copy both.
- Assuming a Love Me Do copy is a valuable Version 1. Known counterfeits use the Version 1 track list on brackets-logo labels; check the layout and dead wax first.
- Believing a stereo cover that lists Love Me Do. The rarebeatles.com guide says those are almost always fake, with only a couple of genuine copies verified.
- Pricing from the jacket alone. Discs and jackets were often swapped, so a genuine ad-back or blank-back cover can hold a fake disc and the reverse.
03
Albums found on the Vee-Jay Introducing... The Beatles label
These album-specific guides show how the shared label clue combines with a catalog number, matrix, jacket, and value range.
04
A four-step check for your copy
- Check that INTRODUCING THE BEATLES and THE BEATLES both sit above the spindle hole.
- Tilt the label under light: a glossy colorband with bright silver print, or flat stock on a plain black label.
- Look in the dead wax for stamped AudioMatrix, MR in a circle, or APP, and measure the trail-off: originals run 7/8 inch to 1 inch, never more.
- Inspect the jacket: gloss on both slicks, George Harrison's shadow on the front, no brown border around the photo, and the 1/4-inch overlap inside.
- For a stereo claim, confirm an S suffix in the runout or stereo sound, since some mono discs left the factory with stereo labels.
Keep checking the shelf
Compare another label family.
The same visual method works across the rest of the shelf.
roughly 1955–1962
Columbia six-eye
Identify a Columbia six-eye pressing by its six walking-eye marks, catalog prefix, label text, and dead-wax matrix—then check album-specific details.
Check this pressing
roughly 1962–1970
Columbia two-eye
Identify a Columbia two-eye pressing from its two walking-eye logos, 360 Sound text, catalog prefix, and dead-wax matrix variations.
Check this pressing
mid-1960s–early 1970s
Atlantic red and plum
Identify Atlantic red-and-plum LP pressings by label layout, catalog number, address and rim text, pressing-plant marks, and matrix details.
Check this pressingA few questions
The ones that come up.
Start with the label: both the title and THE BEATLES should sit above the spindle hole, the print should be bright silver, and a colorband should be glossy with every color present. Then look for machine-stamped AudioMatrix, MR in a circle, or APP in the dead wax, and check that both jacket slicks are glossy.
Version 1 (January 1964) includes Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You. Vee-Jay lost the rights to those two songs in mid-January and replaced them with Please Please Me and Ask Me Why; that Version 2 went on sale around February 10, 1964.
Yes, in far smaller numbers. By mid-January 1964 Vee-Jay had shipped 79,169 mono and 2,202 stereo copies, and lifetime sales were about 1.3 million mono and 40,000 stereo. Stereo copies carry SR 1062, and fake stereo claims are common.
A worn genuine Version 2 mono copy is a modest record. Discogs medians for three common genuine mono entries were about $17 to $18 in October 2026. Version 1 discs, stereo SR 1062 copies, and clean ad-back or blank-back jackets bring far more, which is why they are the most faked.
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