Dynamite, maybe?
This is why I think you were snookered on ebay.
This is what I'm thinking too. I'd contact the seller and call b.s.
I seem to recall in a recent thread that someone was looking for a V15 lll housing, the silver plastic part.
Give him only the chrome housing. I would like the cartridge so that I might be able to ascertain what you have there.
I have never, ever had a Type III that would not slide out of the metal shell. And other things. And I really need to see that pos.
That is not the way to tell. I can stick almost any cheaper Shure in there and bend the SINGLE pole pieces to fit the stylus assembly.
That head-shell does look mauled, did it come with the cartridge?
Was the rear end of the cartridge all black plastic with the channel designations molded in before it flew apart? Was that phenolic piece (the off-white piece with the pins attached) covered with plastic?
Doug
I think it's a real V15 Type III and the plastic just went ker-plunk ker-plooey. The phenolic piece is put on there first with the wires sticking through the holes in the pins and soldered. Then the black plastic cover is installed over the pins and glued and the ground strap and colored channel designators installed over the pins.
That's why I never pull on the clips (I have always thought that an odd thing to call them - they don't "clip" to anything. They are really sockets) to remove them. I get a small screwdriver between the back of the cartridge and the edge of the clips and pry them off. It's still no guarantee a pin won't pull through the back but there's less stress than pulling directly on the clips.
It's still a bummer what happened, though. One of the best cartridges ever made.
Doug