A numbered copy of The Beatles self-titled album (aka The White Album) has sold for £19,201 (nearly US $30,000) 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.

Record Collector magazine has ranked the rare copy No. 1 in its list of the 200 Rarest Records of All Time.

Question : What is the most expensive record in the world?

Answer : An early disc created by three of the original Beatles has become England’s most expensive record of all time and has an estimated value of £100,000 ($200,000).

Recorded in 1958 by the band Quarry Men, (Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Colin Hanton and John Duff Lowe), the first pressing of their version of “That’ll Be The Day” would be a jewel in any collection.

Most members of the band attended Quarry Banks grammar school, from which they derived the name. The band lasted until 1958, when Lowe and Hanton left the group.

After that, the group went through several names before settling on The Beatles.
Sir Paul McCartney owns the first pressing. Record Collector, a magazine, arrived at the £100,000 figure through information from experts, collectors and dealers.

The expensive single also contains an original B-side by McCartney and Harrison, “In Spite of All the Danger.”

The drum skin used on the cover of The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper album has sold for £541,250 ($1.07m) at auction in London, almost four times the estimate.

The skin was a hand-painted item that was only ever used for the cover of the classic 1967 album.
Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was not only one of The Beatles biggest albums, it was also one of the most important albums ever from the rock era.

The Beatles began recording the album on December 6, 1966 and spent the next 129 days in recording. That was an amazing time for a recording in the 60s.

The Sgt Pepper skin was just one of many Beatles items that sold at the auction : a pair of tinted prescription sunglasses belonging to Lennon, which the singer wore for the cover of the single Mind Games, raised £39,650 ($78,400) and the hand-written lyrics to “Give Peace A Chance” sold for £421,250 ($833,000). Source: BBC