A numbered copy of The Beatles self-titled album (aka The White Album) has sold for £19,201 ($US28,651 / $AUD 45,250) on eBay.
An unknown seller out of Linz, Austria sold the album. It is numbered 0000005.The original numbered 1-4 were given to the individual Beatles John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Designer Richard Hamilton gave the cover numbers as a joke. He liked the irony of a “limited edition” of 5 million. Little did Richard know that 5 million was only a speck out what the album would eventually sell. It has sold 4 times that in the USA alone.
It is known that this particular album was in a private stash held by John Lennon and it is known that John gave it to a friend who was visiting his house. The friend was a musician, but he remains unnamed.
Just two minutes before bidding closed today, the highest of the 84 bids was 16,200 but it the last minutes 4 further bids of £17,000, £18,000, £19,101 and £19,201 were received.
The sale marks the 40th anniversary of the release of the album. It came out on November 22, 1968.
‘The White Album’ was innovative for its day. For starters, the cover was just a plain white sleeve with the name The Beatles raised in embossed lettering.
The album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London between May and October 1968.
It features the George Harrison classic ‘While By Guitar Gently Weeps’ with Eric Clapton on guitar, the slowed down version of John Lennon’s ‘Revolution’, Paul singing ‘Back In The USSR’ and ends with Ringo singing ‘Goodnight’.
A number of songs that didn’t make the album ended up on solo albums years later. John Lennon’s ‘Child Of Nature’ was later released as ‘Jealous Guy’ on Imagine, Paul’s ‘Junk’ and ‘Teddy Boy’ were on his first solo album and George’s ‘No Guilty’ was released more than a decade later.
The Beatles also demoed ‘Mean Mr. Mustard’ and ‘Polythene Pam’ during these session. They came out on Abbey Road. Paul’s ‘The Long and Winding Road’ was later released on Let It Be.
‘Hey Jude’ was also recorded during these sessions but was released only as a single.
