Ultimate Dire Straits Collectors Item

The picture does NOT do this item justice. The first time you see this, it leaves you curious, and I was absolutely fascinated to find out exactly what it is. During the manufacturing process of vinyl albums and singles, the finished record is pressed by what could be called a press tool, or a metal stamper by the trade.

Once the original tape or digital recording has been re-mastered, it is played through a needle resting on an Acetate, which vibrates to create the grooves. These Acetates, or lacquers as they are so often called, are then electroplated using Nickel or Silver. This plating process then forms the basis of a metal stamper. Sometimes, several are made to meet the expected high demand for the record. The stampers are then precision drilled and then set into a press machine using the centre holes and it will form the record as we know it.

These items are normally then stored in the archives of the record company, and kept almost indefinitely, in case they need to press more. It's rare that these items are ever sold on, a fear of copyright infringements or piracy, leading to the market being flooded by poor quality records, could jeopardise the companies reputation. When I was first contacted by Mimmo Carrata about his purchase of this item, I realised that this item has to be one of the most collectable Brothers In Arms related memorabilia in existence today. He has suggested the value is over £2,000 (US$ 3,500).

To add to the incredible rarity of this item, he tells me he has two, but they are different. One for the A-side of the album, and of course, one for the B-side, and two labels. The labels are probably used to identify the stampers in storage, or could even be used when more labels are printed. The stampers themselves were used by Phonogram UK Ltd., and to enable you to read the writing in the "run out" grooves, they have to be viewed in a mirror.

A rather plain and un-inspiring looking booklet, but the contents are incredible. Let me use Mimmo's words to describes this booklet. "It is the original Tour Itinerary printed by the Damage Management for the crew to be used during the Brothers In Arms Tour. It contains all the information, day-by-day, (city, venue, hotel where Dire Straits stayed, Hotel of the Crew, contact informations, telephone numbers, etc.etc.etc.). Moreover, as this Tour Itinerary belonged to a certain VIP of the DS management, it contains a lot of handwritten notes written as a reminder. There are names of the persons in the guest list for the concerts and much more information. For example, in the London 19.12.1985 page, there is handwritten "Eric C." As you know, Eric Clapton was the guest star that night.

"There are pages full of thoughts, reminders, etc. but it's not easy for me to read what is written so I can not understand everything. I have noticed a VERY IMPORTANT THING: on the page of the concert dates, the dates of Newcastle of 4th, 5th and 6th Dec. 1985 are marked with the words "Mum and Dad", which means that the parents of "someone" was there. Maybe this Tour Itinerary belonged to Mark ? It is reliable, so probably the handwriting is Mark's."

If you have any questions about the tour, or need any additional information about guest appearances, then this is the source of information you need. Although the booklet itself may not have any great value, the contents must be near priceless, so for the contents alone, I value it at £500 (US$800).

Extremely Rare Guitar Award From Holland.

Mark Knopfler with the Award 1988	Close Up

In the hands of the proud owner
A full-sized guitar made from crystal with palm tree markings. This recognises sales of 150,000 Brothers in Arms CDs in Holland and is dated August 1988. It comes with it's own guitar bag! Only three of these were made, very very rare indeed. A remarkable item in mint condition. When Mimmo first told me about this Award, I could sense the pride in his words, truly an amazing item, and one every harderned Dire Straits fan would dream of hanging on a wall in their own home. I would value this at £1200, (about USA$ 2,250), but if one ever came up for auction, it would probably fetch 3 times as much.

Fame at last for Gianfranco, a young upcoming guitarist

Introduced during 2001, Creative Labs manufactured the first Digital Audio Player (DAP) Jukebox. Fitted with a 6 Gb hard disc, it claims to have 100 hours of playing time, and can contain up to 150 CD albums, using an MP3 compressed music format of 128K bits/sec. Connecting to your USB port on your computer, you are able to convert your CD's to MP3's, and store them on your DAP Jukebox. Supplied with h/phones, and re-chargeable batteries lasting up to 4 hours and separate power supply to re-charge the batteries. Similar in size to a standard CD Walkman, weighing only 14 ounces (400g), it has a built in "5 minute shock protection", using an 8 Mb memory buffer, Line-In for WAV digital recording from an external source and dual "Stereo Line-Out" for front and rear speakers. Still in it's infancy, Creative Labs are currently working on improvements, and are making downloads available to improve facillities. Prices vary, from country to country, but during it's launch, you could have paid in excess of £400, ($600). Already a 20 Gb version is available to the UK, selling at £299, ($450), compatible with WMA and WAV audio formats, and MAC support.

An impressive piece of music equipment, and with the ever increasing interest in MP3's, it's got to be considered as the future alternative to carrying around a bunch of CD's, with the ability to hold the entire music collection of all but the most hardened record collector. So when Creative Labs introduce 3 very limited editions, complete with the entire catalogue of three selected artists, it makes it a very unique addition to any music fans collection, watch out for further auctions around the world.

Jean Michel Jarre, (with his "Equinoxe" artwork), auctioned in aid of UNESCO, Genesis, (Second "Archive Box Set"), auctioned in aid of the NSPCC (National Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Children), and Mark Knopfler, ("Brothers In Arms"), auctioned in aid of The Teenage Cancer Trust. Already the Ministry Of Sound have jumped on the bandwagon, using the WMA audio format, as apposed to MP3, and contains 67 albums on the new 20 Gb version, it was auction December 2001.

When Mimmo Carrata, the owner of the new Dire Straits DAP jukebox contacted me, and told me of his recent purchase, I was curious about a few things. He Writes, "I have received the full DS and MK discography for free together with the juke-box on new original CD's, (which is big value if you buy all them in the shop, by the way), except for A Shot at Glory. There is space for at least 150 CD's in the hard disk of the juke-box, so there will be space for all the next Mark albums for the next 600 years !!! I saw a couple of auctions of it in June, one in France and one in UK, and the price went around £600. I have paid less for it, but I have been lucky."