eBay Link: Select
	http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270946063019

	eBay Link: Select
	http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220996860532

that the two records have different label styles (one push-out, one solid) suggests that this is a far more common record than the original sale and selling price (£321) might have us believe. my guess is that multiple copies reside in collections but because people don't make a habit of holding their records up to a bright light, have gone unnoticed.

I suspect you are right. I have copies with at least 4 different label mouldings suggesting 4 different sets of stampers and therefore 4 different pressing plants.

We're dealing with a big hit single which would have been pressed in a number of plants who all source their own vinyl.

Red translucent vinyl is actually quite common - many records pressed by Pye have the same effect as the 'Ashes' in the picture if you hold them up to the light.

I also think you're right. I have three UK copies of "Ashes to Ashes", because of the three different covers. When I saw these translucent ones on eBay the other day, I held my three copies against the light, and... bingo: one of them was red!
I think if everybody did that, we would find more red vinyl copies than expected.

By the way, the existence of "dark red" pressings is also mentioned in Jarman's book.

I think these remain really rare.

Now that one was listed on Ebay and made good price, we will see how many show up (there must be thousands looked at though the light theses days)

Here another one:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DAVID-BOWIE-M ... 3374f4fdeb

three in a week on ebay and one member here has already discovered one among his. none of my four is red, but i bet they're out there in their hundreds. i also think buyers spending £300 aren't really thinking it through...

Some interesting info on Pye Records / 'red vinyl' contract pressings here:

http://select45rpm.com/pages/pyecontract.html

I myself have the Pye 4 track E.P. (I Dig Everything etc) pressed around 1980 (grey label) that has the red vinyl effect. Would think that the Ashes pressing would run into the thousands.

Thank you, this is very interesting.

Indeed, many Japanese singles are also translucid, even if rather brownish...

Re-listed due to non payer

good. perhaps common sense will prevail.

more like the owner had a dummy account and pushed up the price, just that little too far.

Please use extreme caution as the different shades of black vinyl often found in the same edition of a release only appear to be variants due to the fact that the vinyl used is not usually of uniform consistence.
Virgin vinyl is supposed to be originally clear and in the manufacturing process a 'black' dye is added to the plastic before it is injected into the press and therefore, being generally impossible to determine a perfectly accurate flow of vinyl+dye, different shades of black, veering on shades of burgundy red, may result.
The same pressing from the same stamper and 'mother' can result in different looking records so it would be best to differentiate editions by the matrices and run-out groove etchings.
UK pressings of Ashes To Ashes have several matrix suffix variants but all would have been made @ The Town House 140 Goldhawk Road, London, W12 8HH - also known as Townhouse Studios it was originally built by Richard Branson in 1979 and closed down in 2008.