Pressing plant · MCA and Decca
MCA and Decca vinyl pressing-plant symbols.
What the mark really means.
Turn over a 1970s MCA record, say Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and look in the smooth band next to the label. Copies from MCA's own factories carry a small stamp there. A G between two boxes means Gloversville, New York. A P between two diamonds means Pinckneyville, Illinois. Those stamps start in January 1973. Before that, the same plants stamped a plain number: 1 for Gloversville, 2 for Pinckneyville, and 3 for Decca's old plant in Richmond, Indiana. On Decca records, check the label too. A symbol after the side B matrix number often names the plant. None of these marks says whether a copy is a first pressing. They say where it was made.
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The quick decode
⧈-G-⧈Pressing plantMCA Pressing Plant in Gloversville, New York, from January 1973.
Where: Stamped in the runout: a G with a small square on each side.
Do not assume: The stamp stayed in use into the late 1980s, so it fits reissues as well as 1973 originals. Date the label and catalog number too.
◈-P-◈Pressing plantMCA Pressing Plant in Pinckneyville, Illinois, from January 1973.
Where: Stamped or etched in the runout: a P with a diamond on each side.
Do not assume: Like the Gloversville stamp, it ran into the late 1980s. On its own it does not date a copy to 1973.
1Pressing plantGloversville, New York: run by Decca from 1953, then by MCA until January 1973.
Where: A small stamped numeral, or a hand-etched straight stroke, set apart from the matrix number.
Do not assume: A 1 is easy to mistake for a side or lacquer number inside the matrix. The plant numeral came back after 1990, so a bare 1 is not proof of an early copy.
2 / ②Pressing plantPinckneyville, Illinois: opened by Decca in late 1957, run by MCA, numeral used until January 1973.
Where: A small stamped 2, sometimes inside a circle, in the runout.
Do not assume: Keep it separate from the numbers inside the matrix string. Like the 1, it came back after 1990.
3Pressing plantDecca's plant in Richmond, Indiana, which pressed from 1939 to 1957.
Where: A small stamped 3 in the runout.
Do not assume: Richmond closed in 1957, so a 3 belongs on 1940s and 50s Decca pressings. It never means an MCA-era plant.
◉ / ✤ on the labelPressing plantDecca's Gloversville plant: a target ◉ on LPs, a four-petal ✤ on 45s.
Where: Printed on the side B label right after the matrix number. It is not in the runout.
Do not assume: Printed labels sometimes went to other plants. Confirm it with a stamped 1 in the runout.
◆ on the labelPressing plantDecca's Pinckneyville plant.
Where: A solid diamond printed on the side B label right after the matrix number.
Do not assume: An outlined diamond ◈ is a different mark and names no plant. Confirm with a stamped 2 in the runout.
MCA NY / MCA-IPressing plantA record MCA pressed for another company: MCA NY for Gloversville, MCA-I or MCA Ill for Pinckneyville.
Where: Hand-etched in the runout of a non-MCA release.
Do not assume: The record belongs to another label, so that label's own first-press rules decide what the copy is.
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How to read it in the full runout
- Hold the record under a lamp at a low angle. The G and P stamps are small and sit apart from the matrix number.
- Read the matrix number first, then look around it for the plant mark. A 1 or 2 inside the matrix string is not a plant mark.
- Use the mark's dates as a boundary. A boxed G or diamond P means January 1973 or later. A bare 1 or 2 means before 1973, or after 1990.
- On a Decca record, read the label as well. Find the side B matrix number and look at the symbol printed after it.
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What this mark does not prove
A runout clue answers one manufacturing question. A pressing identity comes from several clues agreeing with one another.
- Treating the outlined diamond ◈ on a Decca label as a plant mark. It appeared on labels pressed at several plants, including RCA's.
- Looking for the Decca diamond, target or flower in the dead wax. They are printed on the label.
- Assuming one plant means an earlier copy. The plant tells you where a record was made, not when in the run.
- Reading a boxed-G copy as a 1973 original. The same stamp is on copies pressed fifteen years later.
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Check your copy in four passes
- Photograph both runouts under side light and note every stamp, not just the matrix.
- Write the plant mark down separately from the matrix and lacquer numbers.
- Date the label: MCA's black label with the rainbow ran from 1973 to 1977, then turned tan.
- Check the catalog number and jacket against the first release, then rule out anything the plant dates make impossible.
05
Put the mark back on the record
1973 · MCA black label with rainbow
Elton John — Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Check the complete pressing1973 · MCA black
The Who — Quadrophenia
Check the complete pressing1969 · Decca gold-and-black
The Who — Tommy
Check the complete pressing1972 · UNI
Elton John — Honky Château
Check the complete pressing- MCA black-rainbow label guide
Date the label first: black with a rainbow from 1973 to 1977, then tan.
- Capitol pressing-plant symbols
Capitol marked its plants with pictures too: a triangle, a star, a zero and a rifle.
- Original vs. reissue vinyl
Put the plant mark next to the other clues that separate an original from a reissue.
Sources
Reference trail
Runout conventions are label- and era-specific. These references support the decoding above; title-level identification still requires the complete copy.
Keep checking the shelf
Decode another part of the runout.
A single dead-wax string can contain a master, engineer, lacquer, and plant.
Pressing plant · Atlantic family
Atlantic pressing-plant codes
Decode Atlantic label and runout suffixes including PR, MO, SP, and RI, then separate the pressing plant from the lacquer-cutting engineer.
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Pressing plant · Capitol Records
Capitol pressing-plant symbols
Identify Capitol records pressed in Scranton, Los Angeles, Jacksonville, or Winchester from the IAM triangle, star, zero, and rifle-like runout symbols.
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Mastering and plant · Blue Note
Blue Note RVG and Plastylite ear
Tell Blue Note's RVG or VAN GELDER mastering mark from the Plastylite ear pressing-plant mark, and learn why one can survive without the other.
Check this pressingA few questions
The ones that come up.
It is the stamp of MCA's pressing plant in Gloversville, New York. MCA started using it in January 1973 and kept it into the late 1980s. It tells you where the record was pressed, not whether it is a first pressing.
It marks MCA's plant in Pinckneyville, Illinois, from January 1973 on. Before that, the same plant stamped a plain 2.
They are plant numbers. 1 is Gloversville, New York. 2 is Pinckneyville, Illinois. 3 is Decca's Richmond, Indiana plant, which closed in 1957. The 1 and 2 gave way to the boxed G and diamond P in January 1973 and came back after 1990.
A solid diamond ◆ points to Decca's Pinckneyville plant, and a target ◉ or flower ✤ points to Gloversville. An outlined diamond ◈ is not a plant mark. Labels were sometimes shipped between plants, so confirm with the number stamped in the runout.
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