The Rolling Stones — Sticky Fingers: How to Identify a First Pressing

• Cover: The cover was conceived and photographed by Andy Warhol and designed by Craig Braun: a close-up of a man's jeans-clad crotch with a real, working zipper that, when pulled down, reveals an inner sleeve printed with white briefs underneath.
• Cover: On the briefs printed below the zipper, gold-coloured lettering is stamped to resemble Warhol's signature (in a stylized script).
• Cover: The US and UK first-pressing covers use different text layouts: the US version has the album/band name in a smaller typeface at the top, while the UK version uses a larger typeface positioned on the left.
• Label: This album was the first to use John Pasche's 'tongue and lips' Rolling Stones Records logo, which became the central image on the record label; according to the Rolling Stones Records Wikipedia page, the label has a yellow background with the red tongue logo.

• Retailers reportedly found that the zipper scratched the sleeves and records of copies stacked on top of it during warehouse storage and shipping, so the zipper was later 'unzipped' slightly and repositioned closer to the record's centre to reduce damage — this change happened after the very earliest production run and can be used to tell very early copies from slightly later batches.

• Spanish censored cover ('canned finger'): Under the Franco regime, the Spanish release replaced the zipper cover with a censored image of a finger dipped into a can of syrup, instead of the zipper design.

The Discogs page itself could not be opened directly in this research environment due to anti-bot blocking (403); the facts below are drawn mainly from the Wikipedia entry (which cites original reporting on the Warhol/Craig Braun design and the Rolling Stones Records entry). The core identifying points are covered: the real zipper, the gold lettering on the briefs, the US/UK cover-layout difference, and the later repositioning of the zipper.

• 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.