John Lennon's White Album is up for auction

8 February 2024, 14:52

The former Beatle's copy is numbered 0000006 and the bidding has started at $50,000.

A copy of The Beatles' "White Album" once owned by John Lennon is to go up for auction - with a starting bid of $50,000.

The stereo pressing of the 1968 self-titled double album from The Fab Four bears the serial number 0000006, which proves it once belonged to the former Beatle.

Lennon gifted the album to his chauffeur and bodyguard Les Anthony, who passed the record onto a relative. According to the auction house: "The LP was re-discovered after a television show named Find a Fortune was discussing rare records and the owner contacted the TV program and expressed his interest in selling the album.

"The program then contacted Mike Vandenbosch of More Than Music who purchased the historic piece."

This unique piece of Beatle history has now come up for sale by the Dallas-based Heritage Auctions.

The auction is live now and ends at midday (Central Time) on Saturday 24th February.

The Beatles The White Album No. #0000006 John Lennon's Copy

The auctioneers say that the album comes complete with the original poster that served as a lyric sheet, the four colour photos of each individual Beatle, and the black inner sleeves that only appeared with early editions of the LP.

They also state that "the jacket cover is in overall VG-EX 6 condition with some ring wear, bending, creasing, expected discolouration and staining" while the vinyl condition ranges from "Excellent" to "Near Mint" condition across the four sides.

It's long been thought that former Beatle roadie and manager of the band's Apple company Neil Aspinall held the mono edition of number 0000006 of the "White Album" and that only the group's inner circle held copies of numbers 0000001 to 0000020.

In 2015, Ringo Starr's mono copy of the "White Album" number 0000001 sold for an incredible $790,000 - £627,000 in British money today.