“White album” no. 01 for sale

White album no. 01

But it’s not No. 00000000001, it’s actually No. 01!

It’s a 1st pressing of The Beatles (White Album) UK 1968 mono album, complete with poster and photos, and the sleeve is marked No. 01, a rare number variant.

When purchased by the current owner, the previous owner said that this album had been given to him by an Apple executive who had worked for The Beatles.

This apparently mis-pressed sleeve was subsequently gifted to him by one of the group.

It is believed that The Beatles did not like the first sleeve enumeration system as they wanted more digits to allow all covers to be numbered and not just a batch with double figures up to 10, which Apple had delivered to their offices in Saville Row for the group.

Subsequently it is believed that the printers added more 000s to accommodate the Beatles request and sent another batch to Apple, leaving the first run as very rare anomalies.

The item is coming up at an auction is held by Special Auction Services (SAS) in Newbury, Berkshire on October 30. They have a price estimate at £4000 – £5000 (British pounds), and we think it will easily get that. The auction also features many other Beatles records, as well as leather jacket once owned by John Lennon.

Link to Auction: Special Auction Services