I purchased a copy of the Mercury Living Presence Haydn Symphonies 100 and 101 (SR90155) via eBay a few weeks ago. I am definitely not an expert in old vinyl, so it was a speculative purchase. It was still factory sealed but my basic knowledge did tell me it was still likely to be an RFR pressing nonetheless.
Well I was pleasantly surprised when I finally received it, opened it and saw it was an FR1 on one side and an RFR2 on the other. Believe it or not, this is my first genuine old Mercury purchase. Everything else I have is either a Classic Records reissue, Speakers Corner reissue or one of the new Decca-based reissues.
I put it on my Record Doctor V vacuum cleaner and gave it a spin last night. Wow! I am starting to understand why the original pressings (well, I mean the ones made before Mercury ceased to be in the mid 60s) are so coveted. It might not be the earliest pressing, but to me it still sounds like a great one. There is a real driving, dynamic wallop to the sound. Sort of like the very best of analogue and digital combined, whereas many of the modern reissues can sound a little bit lifeless by comparison (still great sounding, though I feel you can hear the difference between a three year old tape and a 50 year old tape apart from whatever other technical differences exist...).
Here is a simple MP3 excerpt of the opening of the Symphony 101. I am really happy with this purchase.
https://www.sendspace.com/file/aopkkx
Well I was pleasantly surprised when I finally received it, opened it and saw it was an FR1 on one side and an RFR2 on the other. Believe it or not, this is my first genuine old Mercury purchase. Everything else I have is either a Classic Records reissue, Speakers Corner reissue or one of the new Decca-based reissues.
I put it on my Record Doctor V vacuum cleaner and gave it a spin last night. Wow! I am starting to understand why the original pressings (well, I mean the ones made before Mercury ceased to be in the mid 60s) are so coveted. It might not be the earliest pressing, but to me it still sounds like a great one. There is a real driving, dynamic wallop to the sound. Sort of like the very best of analogue and digital combined, whereas many of the modern reissues can sound a little bit lifeless by comparison (still great sounding, though I feel you can hear the difference between a three year old tape and a 50 year old tape apart from whatever other technical differences exist...).
Here is a simple MP3 excerpt of the opening of the Symphony 101. I am really happy with this purchase.
https://www.sendspace.com/file/aopkkx
This was merely an opportunistic purchase (along with a couple of other early reprint mercs). I'd never seen this Haydn title reissued and I don't even think it ever came out on CD either (maybe it did but I've never seen it anywhere except on original LPs). And I love the works and the performances so I just had to have them. I have quite a lot of Mercury vinyl already - including all the ones you have listed - and some other titles on CD (the latter only if I have not been able to get the vinyl). So I only go looking for vintage stuff if I badly want the particular recording and there doesn't seem a likely way of getting it elsewhere on vinyl. I actually think, however, that Wilma Cozart-Fine's transfers back in the early 90s hold up exceptionally well - even against audiophile vinyl and even the originals - as she said herself - the original vinyl and the CDs are two different but equally valid interpretations of the master tapes. Which I take to mean a diplomatic way of saying neither are transparent 
