Pink Floyd — The Dark Side of the Moon: How to Identify a First Pressing

• Cover: The cover was designed by Hipgnosis and George Hardie, inspired by a prism-refraction diagram Thorgerson found in a 1963 physics textbook; Hipgnosis presented seven design options for the band to choose from, and all four members unanimously chose the prism design.
• Insert: The gatefold sleeve includes two posters and two pyramid-themed stickers: one poster shows a live photo of the band overlaid with scattered letters spelling out PINK FLOYD, and the other is an infrared photograph of the pyramids at Giza.
• Cover: One inspiration for the prism design was the refraction diagram Thorgerson found; the finished cover shows a spectrum-refraction effect (the user's specific point of interest — whether the triangle is depicted as solid — could not be confirmed with an explicit verbatim description in any accessible source this time; see unverified_fields).

• Label: The UK edition was released on the Harvest label (March 16, 1973); the US edition was released on Capitol/Harvest (March 1, 1973).

• The 2003 30th-anniversary vinyl edition used a different remaster and was pressed on 180-gram heavyweight vinyl, with updated poster material — differing from the 1973 original in both physical specification and included poster.

• Hidden Beatles melody fragment: On some pressings, an orchestral-version fragment of the Beatles' 'Ticket to Ride' can be faintly heard after the heartbeat sound at the end of 'Eclipse'; this is not present on every pressing.

The user's specific point of interest — whether the UK edition's triangle is printed as a solid blue shape — could not be found described verbatim in any accessible source this time (Wikipedia; Discogs/45cat/brain-damage.co.uk were all inaccessible, returning 403/404), and is honestly marked as unverified rather than fabricated.

• Read the runout (the smooth area between the last groove and the label) with the disc tilted under a lamp: matrix numbers, stamper codes and mastering initials are the strongest evidence.
• Label details change between pressing plants and years: rim text, logo style, address, "Manufactured by" wording.
• Cover printing shows the plant and era: printer credit, catalog number position, barcode presence.
• Match all three. A first-press disc in a later cover, or the reverse, is common.

Shoot the label straight on in even light, then the runout with the disc tilted so the etched text catches the light (a phone torch from the side works). Add the front and back cover, the spine, and any inner sleeve or insert. The app reads the label and cover; the runout photo is what confirms the pressing.

RareVinyl.com's listings (read 25 September 2026) describe the 1973 UK first issue, Harvest SHVL 804, like this:

• Label: a solid prism design with silver lettering and "Gramophone Co." text around the rim.
• Contents: a black inner sleeve, two stickers and two posters.
• Runout: A2 and B2 matrices. The dealer notes that some A2/B2 copies have a well-known skip during "Money", and it prices copies without the skip higher.
• Sleeve: a slight green tinge in the black print, where later issues are jet black. The dealer says three first-issue sleeve variants exist, differing in how the gatefold opens, and names "Printed and made by Garrod and Lofthouse Ltd." inside the sleeve.

RareVinyl.com list prices in US dollars, read on 25 September 2026 (most copies already sold):

• UK first issue, complete with posters and stickers: US$1,477 (VG) to US$4,784 (Excellent, no skip).
• UK second issues: US$58 to US$536.
• UK fifth issues: US$61 to US$409, depending on condition and completeness.
• 2023 50th anniversary 180-gram remaster, sealed: US$55.99 to US$59.99.
• 1973 Japanese promo in a reversed sleeve with obi: US$4,116.

Among all Pink Floyd items in the catalogue, the three highest-priced were this UK first issue at US$4,784, the Japanese promo at US$4,116, and a complete 1975 UK first issue of Wish You Were Here at US$3,623 (see our Wish You Were Here page). Completeness counts: the posters and stickers are the first things to go missing.