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Very rare White Album for sale on eBay


Farin

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Lowest-numbered copy of legendary album hits the market

[smaller]NME.com | Nov 14, 2008 | Link[/smaller]

One of the earliest pressed copies of The Beatles 'White Album' has just gone for sale on eBay.

Copy number 0000005 is on for sale on the site, following on from the seminal record being given the Number One position in the '200 Rarest Records of All Time' by Record Collector magazine.

Copies numbered from 0000001 to 0000004 were given to the members

of The Beatles themselves, and have not yet emerged onto the market.

On November 22 it will be forty years since the 19 times platinum- selling album, which is actually officially called 'The Beatles', was released.

To have a look at the auction go to ebay.co.uk

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I really fail to see why this particular album is worth so much. Yeah, I get that it's the lowest number after the ones given to the Beatles, but this sort of thing is just beyond me. It's not like any of the Beatles ever owned it, autographed it, or handled it, even.

Edit: I did read the description, but again, there's no proof that John Lennon owned it... is there? Except the seller's word. I wouldn't spend that sort of money on a stranger's story. :crazy:

Edited by Guest
read the e-bay post
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The main reason many people want low numbered pressings is that the quality can deteriorate in later pressing, particularly in albums that have sold a lot of copies. This is all but unnoticeable, and completely unnoticeable on most stereo systems, but I guess some people really care.

In any case the quality would be perfect long after the fifth discs pressed, so why someone would care to pay that much just to have THE lowest number available is just beyond me.

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The main reason many people want low numbered pressings is that the quality can deteriorate in later pressing, particularly in albums that have sold a lot of copies. This is all but unnoticeable, and completely unnoticeable on most stereo systems, but I guess some people really care.

You´re partly right, Wade. The first pressings are always promo LPs or albums for the artists and close people. And older LPs are way better than pressings from the eighties, for instance

Probably the best reason anyone would purchase this would be as an investment. It will certainly appreciate and possibly relatively soon, as collector items go. After Ringo and Paul pass away, noteworthy items such as this will soar in value.

The collectors market is like with art, some people set the prices and no one really knows why. I´ve been dealing with collectors for some twenty or thirty years... most of them are dark people.... A fifth pressing of the WA is always a raritie, hence it´s expensive. For some reason I don´t really undertand, but anyways...

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It's collecting. It's not a logical, rational activity. If I could afford thousands of pounds on a 00005 White Album, I wouldn't hesitate. From my perspective as Beatle fan, it would be a very interesting item to have. My wife, like many of you, would not understand the attraction. ;-)

Of course, in the particular case of the White Album, there are all kinds of permutations of early mixes, masterings, pressings, etc, so a completist could really get carried away on just this one title, but I think it would be enough to say that John, Paul, George and Ringo got the first four copies, and I have the fifth. How cool would that be?

btw, if you haven't heard the mono mix of the White Album, I strongly advise you to get hold of a copy. It's a whole different experience. I spent years avoiding the mono Beatles mixes, being such a modern man, but now I discovered that the relationship between mono and stereo mixes is very much like the relationship between black-and-white and colour photography. Neither is "better", but they can be equally wonderful in their own way.

(I also highly recommend the mono mixes of Sgt Peppers and Revolver, and check out the mono single mix of Paperback Writer!)

See ya,

LeeBB

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It's collecting. It's not a logical, rational activity. If I could afford thousands of pounds on a 00005 White Album, I wouldn't hesitate. From my perspective as Beatle fan, it would be a very interesting item to have. My wife, like many of you, would not understand the attraction. ;-)

I understand the thrill of having such a gem. What I don´t understand is how they set the price. I know the value is high cause it belonged to someone special or it´s an antique or whatever... but I ignore why the cost would be this and not that. I have sold many rarities, I still have many... I never know what they will offer for my old albums and singles.

btw, if you haven't heard the mono mix of the White Album, I strongly advise you to get hold of a copy. It's a whole different experience. I spent years avoiding the mono Beatles mixes, being such a modern man, but now I discovered that the relationship between mono and stereo mixes is very much like the relationship between black-and-white and colour photography. Neither is "better", but they can be equally wonderful in their own way.

I have all my mono Beatles albums well stored -I´m old so I had the chance to have first editions of their LPs; I even had promo-LPs as my dad was a journalist- and I can tell you the sound is amazing. Different, of course, but yet amazing.

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If you look closely at the close-up, it looks like the number 5 is altered.

Fairly remote someone would make so obvious an attempt at fraud, knowing their head would soon be on the chopping block after the buyer took receipt. More likely the cause of the odd discoloration look of the "5" is the fact it is located exactly where the thumb would be positioned, were one to hold the album. More likely a case of frequent handling than an attempt at forgery.

BTW, 7 days 7 hrs to go and the bid is 5,450 pounds! (I like that it reminds the buyer to add 20 for postage.)

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It's collecting. It's not a logical, rational activity. If I could afford thousands of pounds on a 00005 White Album, I wouldn't hesitate. From my perspective as Beatle fan, it would be a very interesting item to have. My wife, like many of you, would not understand the attraction. ;-)See ya,

LeeBB

Au contraire, some types of collecting make plenty of sense. You can collect stocks that have gone up in value, you can collect real estate that you bought for cheap, you can collect precious metals, you can collect short-run makes of automobiles. These make sense. These have an evident value in their rarity. If you were to destroy a page from a Michelangelo notebook, you will never be able to replace it. If you crashed a Rolls Royce Jonckheere, tough luck trying to get another one - you won't. If one were to destroy or break a Beatles record... destroy or break THIS Beatles record, nothing is lost. We've already heard the album ad nauseam (in mono and stereo). Throwing money to own this album is equivalent to buying a cheese sandwich where Jesus has appeared. That is illogical :beatnik:

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Yeah I agree with Bitter Almonds. I mean, if you were to own copy 3,276 of the white album, it would be just as rare since it's the only 3,276th white album that exists.

On an unrelated note, great album. I'd say probably my 4th favorite from the Beatles, which is pretty good.

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Out of curiosity, I checked out my husband's record collection. I counted at least three copies of the Beatles White Album. Two had the title on the front in gray and there was one copy that was completely white ("The Beatles" was just raised lettering). One of the sets was made of white vinyl rather than black. None of them, except his compact disc version, was numbered at the front. My question is this: do albums have more value when they are issued in the band's country of origin?

On another note, I did find an unopened direct-to-disc master recording of Abbey Road...wonder if that's worth anything?

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I did find an unopened direct-to-disc master recording of Abbey Road...wonder if that's worth anything?

You could always run it up the ebay pole and see if anyone salutes. Just make your minimum bid a thousand bucks or whatever you would idealistically like to get for it. There must be a dozen or more other, non-binding ways to have something like that evaluated.

(On the White Album - 6days, 7hrs left and the bid is up to 6,500 pounds)

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One of the sets was made of white vinyl rather than black.

From Wiki:

Two re-issues in 1978 (one by Capitol Records, the other by Parlophone) saw the album pressed on white vinyl, completing the look of the "white" album.

do albums have more value when they are issued in the band's country of origin?

Not really. In fact, copies from other countries use to be more expensive...

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