The test pressing was auctioned through Heritage Auctions and bidding reached $35,000 on December 3 after sitting at $3,000 over the weekend. The auction attracted 14 bidders, according to the auction website.

Ludwig’s test pressing contained his well-known “hot mix” of Led Zeppelin II which is famed for its dynamic range and impressive sound.

Legend has it that this version of the album stopped being produced after an Atlantic Records executive, sometimes identified as Ahmet Ertegun or Jerry Wexler, received a complaint from either his daughter or niece that the initial pressing of the record caused her turntable’s needle to jump out of the grooves. The album was then recut to remove Ludwig’s hot mix, reducing its dynamic range.

“Nobody from Atlantic called and said, hey, this thing skips on my daughter’s cheap set and asked me to cut a couple dB lower. I would have re-cut it, but nobody called,” Ludwig said in a 2023 interview with Stereophile.

Photographs of the test pressing published by the auction site show an inner sleeve with handwritten annotations. They include the date September 5, 1969, the album’s matrix numbers 691671 and 691672 as well as the album’s Atlantic Records catalogue number 8236 and “from Pitman”, which presumably indicates the test pressing was made at the Columbia Records pressing plant in Pitman, New Jersey.