Frankie Crocker

Agreed but best pitched up to 47rpm with extra talc on the floor...hit it...

Very saddened reading this thread years down the road since Pete’s post. Bobby delivered three records of the highest quality and was easily a Hall of Fame calibre artist. What a shame he never earned a long-term financial reward for his work but at least he was alerted to the immense contribution he made to the soul scene.

Interesting that the red one does not state ‘Gents’ on it. Did this one date from before the Northern years at The Casino? I have two yellow cards in my name and two green cards belonging to the ex. I first had a blue card that I tore in two to let a mate in. The number of us that had multiple membership cards makes a mockery of the often cited figure issued - 109,000 according to Richard’s recent book.

Spotted this earlier and thought no confusing this with the real thing. Early gents card was red then blue I think then yellow. Ladies card was green but there may have been others, not sure.

Very sad news. A real character. 100 Club stalwart. Will be sorely missed.

That’s my take on it too. Kev was signed up later. There’s a thread on Soul Source that discusses the First Allnighter patch which makes for interesting reading. The seller of the patch shown indicated it was home-made - you would be hard pressed to tell it apart from the genuine article. This of course makes it rather difficult for buyers of genuine memorabilia.

Cheers Dave. Clever stuff eh? Might get myself one and start up a new company...Bootleg Badges I’ll call it... On the other hand, maybe I’ll use the time to play a few more records.

These home-made jobbies look pretty authentic. To get the Tommy Hunt profile accurate is quite tricky but he has achieved it. I think these unofficial versions were made a long time ago in contrast to the profusion of current replicas. The guy who has made them has copied the originals quite closely so I wonder if he has a textile industry background...or was just very good at needlepoint?

Cheers Steve. Two of the above are destined for Crocker Towers. The other was very keenly faught over by two collectors chasing the elusive 3rd anniversary patch - I have been in touch with two Soul Source members about this collectible in the last year or so. Also up for sale today was a home made Wigan lookalike Tommy Hunt patch with white trim. This brings the total of home-made patches to three varieties in the last month or so.

Number 484 arrived Friday and only had time to glance at every page before catching a train. Looks a brilliant additition to books on Northern Soul.

Seen a yellow issue up for sale on eBay today...was over $600. Sold for £486.00 in the end

More or less agreed. Benny Curtis with clean labels is a tough find and warrants auction status. That said, this and the next auctions also have set sale items for buyers to scrap over. Perhaps some of the set sale type records are on so many wants lists, it’s just fairer to auction them?

I paid $3,600 for my copy last year plus £300 in bank loan interest charges. If yours was the copy that Manship auctioned a few months ago, it made me appreciate how lucky I was to snag the record and what a shrewd buy it was. Definitely one of the best double-siders ever and only the luckiest few on planet earth will enjoy the benefits of ownership.

Good luck with your quest. Was the Easter All Dayer an official freebie?

Let ‘em frown. I’m collecting the patches as I had the first, third and fourth anniversary souvenirs and thought let’s put together a colourful display for the record room in the dream retirement home. Any info on ‘unofficial mechandise’ is therefore welcome - good luck to these entrepreneurs but let’s have accurate listings and preferably not of the private sort.

Yep. Saw it on eBay, the seller mentioned it was a DIY job. I was beginning to think that these other home-made patches were indeed genuine as they look so exact, then this yellow one shows up. I think there are several of us Casino attendees who are collecting not just records, but other related memorabilia and it’s good there’s a forum like this to share our expertise.

Very nice... Is it up for sale somewhere?

Never seen this red and gold version before - sure looks old. I wonder if it was a sort of prototype for the maroon nylon Keep The Faith patch that was available during the first year of Wigan Allniters?

So, is this the copy that ended up with Butch or did the Willinghams hang onto theirs making it two known copies perhaps? Butch spent a considerable sum on his copy and had to work hard to get the audience to appreciate it more fully.

Thanks for posting. So, am I right in saying the white patches with either yellow or green trim and red writing are home-made? They do look very professional for unofficial patches I have to say. Odd that the original maroon patch seems so scarce - I sold mine back in the late 70’s and have seen very few for sale since.

Just waiting for somewhere like Manchester University to start up a degree course in Soul Studies. I fancy three years of hedonism up north, especially if they do away with tuition fees.

Or maybe someone got Sam Williams confused with J D Martin? I’m always getting my white demos on Tower mixed up... was it Jerry Naylor or the Four Larks I meant to get next and so it goes...

Ah, but you’ve still got the record to remind you of happy times... Me, I’m trying to forget those large outlays from decades ago. Once upon a time, I listed all the records bought and the prices paid. When returning to the scene in the 90’s, I resolved not to do this and not to count the cost. As I see it, some records are picked up cheaply and others are too expensive, but hopefully things average out over the long run.

Ah, but when you’re a megabuck-tycoon, life is too busy to mess around on Facebook or other social media. At least the big spender has their priorities right - firstly, make a fortune, secondly blow it on great records...

Fair point...so two ultra-rich newbies to the scene as they would have picked this one up much earlier had they been around a few years ago...