TracksAuction.com

“The White Album Auction”

• The First Fully Signed ‘White Album’ Ever To Be Auctioned
• Expected To Realise Over £100k At Auction
• Taken In Lieu Of A £100 Debt In The Seventies By London Man
• On-line Bidding Begins On 22 November 2013 At TracksAuction.com

A Fully Autographed U.S.A. Beatles White Album

The Beatles. An American 1968 stereo pressing of ‘The Beatles’ L.P., commonly referred to as the ‘The White Album’, autographed by all four Beatles on the inner gatefold. This is the rarest fully signed Beatles album ever to be publicly auctioned. The autographs are undoubtedly one of the finest sets ever to appear on a signed Beatles album. The formation of each signature is virtually perfect, they are extremely fluid, bold and vivid. It is a large, attractively spaced set of signatures. John Lennon and Paul McCartney have signed in black pen with John adding self portraits of himself and Yoko Ono, he has also dated his autograph ‘Dec 73’. George Harrison and Ringo Starr have signed in blue pen. Paul, George and Ringo have not dated their autographs but we have inspected them closely comparing them to other authentic signatures in our reference files from 1973/74 and found them to be perfectly typical examples from this period.

John Lennon’s autograph was most probably signed in the U.S.A., after John left England on August 31^st 1971 he never returned to the UK. We do not know whether the autographs of Paul, George and Ringo were signed in the UK or in the U.S.A. One possibility is that the three Beatles signed the sleeve in the UK and then the album was taken to the U.S.A. by an Apple employee, for example, where it was signed by John, or vice versa. The possibility that Paul, George and Ringo also signed in the U.S.A. is more remote as Paul could not enter the U.S.A. because of his drug related convictions before he was issued a visa in December 1973, his first visit was in March 1974. We believe that the first occasions in 1974 that Ringo and George were in the States were February and October, respectively.

This highly attractive set of autographs have been signed on what many consider to be The Beatles greatest work. Recording began on 30^th May 1968 and finished on 17^th October later that year, it consumed more studio hours than any other Beatles L.P. Derek Taylor, the group’s press officer, writing at the time of the LP’s release saw the White Album as evidence of the fact that ‘Lennon and McCartney are the greatest songwriters since Schubert’. The album is an eclectic mix of styles and tunes which swoops and soars to heights unprecedented even by The Beatles exceptionally high standards. Back In The USSR, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Happiness Is A Warm Gun, I’m So Tired, Yer Blues, Helter Skelter, Why Don’t We Do It In The Road – recordings of sublime quality that would stand out in any musical era or within any genre of music. John Lennon had particularly fond memories of his input into the album. In his Rolling Stone interview he commented “I keep saying that I always preferred the double album, because my music is better on the double album ...I’m being myself on it”

The album also arguably contained George Harrison’s and Ringo Starr’s finest moments. Paul McCartney in an interview recorded for The Beatles Anthology video series made a remark that was both designed to brush aside any criticism of the L.P. and at the same time draw attention to the magnitude of the work. With a magnanimous wave of his hands he humorously snapped, “Shut up will ya? It’s The Beatles White Album!”

Autographed Beatles albums are amongst the rarest types of signed Beatles items. During 1962/1963, the period in which The Beatles signed most frequently in order to please their fans, the most usual surface upon which the group’s signatures were obtained was on a page in an autograph book. Beatles LPs and photos etc were more unwieldy and less easy to carry to concerts. Hence, few were autographed. The most commonly signed album was the UK Please Please Me album, followed by the group’s second UK album, With The Beatles. Following these two 1963 releases autographed Beatles albums become increasingly scarce as John, Paul, George and Ringo generally became less interested in signing autographs. Mid-period albums such as Beatles For Sale, Help! and Rubber Soul are very rarely seen autographed by the group. During 1967 the group shunned the limelight, ensconcing themselves in the recording studio and were seldom contactable for signatures except by the girls waiting outside E.M.I’s Abbey Road studios. Only a handful of Sgt. Pepper L.P.s were autographed. Signed Beatles albums from ‘The Studio Years’ are becoming increasingly desirable because they are increasing in value faster than any other type of collectively signed Beatles item. An attractively signed copy of Sgt. Peppers recently reached $290,500.00 in a U.S.A. auction, double its prevailing retail value.

However, it is the late period Beatles albums – the White Album, Abbey Road and Let It Be - which are the scarcest of all signed Beatle albums. (Incidentally, American albums autographed by the group are far more rare than their English counterparts. Only around 12 signed U.S.A. LPs bearing the autographs of John, Paul, George and Ringo are known to exist). Until we came across this signed copy of the White Album (which has nestled in the storage cabinet of a sixties radiogram in South London for the last 40 plus years, totally unbeknown to the owner that the signatures were genuine!) we had never seen, anywhere in the public domain, a genuine autographed example of this L.P. in our 24 years of trading in Beatles autographs. Given the supreme rarity and desirability of this signed copy of the White Album that we are auctioning at TracksAuction.com on 22^nd November 2013, together with the impressive condition of the signatures, we believe that bidding could quite realistically surpass the £60,000.00 to £80,000.00 estimate placed on the item. It would make an impressive addition to even the most prestigious of collections. Moreover, in view of the dearth of signed copies of Beatles albums released post 1967 (only two signed copies of the Abbey Road L.P. have been seen, hitherto, and an autographed copy of the Let It Be L.P. is not known to exist) there is potential for a rise in value in relation to these late period albums greater even than that realised by the signed copy of Sgt Pepper, referred to above, which was sold earlier this year.

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CONDITION ETC.

To follow is a detailed description of the condition of the album. The John Lennon autograph measures approximately 13cm (5.25 inches) wide by 3.5cm (1.5 inches) high, the drawing and date in John Lennon’s hand measures approximately 4cm (1.75 inches) wide x 3cm (1.25 inches) high. The Paul McCartney signature measures approximately 10cm (4 inches) wide x 4.5cm 1.75 inches) high, the height has been measured from the top of the ‘P’ to the bottom of the ‘y’. The George Harrison autograph measures approximately 10cm (3.9 inches) wide x 3.5cm (1.25 inches) high. The Ringo Starr signature measures approximately 10.5cm wide x 4.75cm wide. The overall condition of the sleeve is very good. The gatefold has retained much of its whiteness and the cardboard has kept its strength and crispness. There is some light foxing in various places.  The front of the sleeve has a very light stain on the bottom right corner which has some light mottling around it. There is also a 2.5cm (1 inch) scuff on the left side of the slick of the spine of the front of the sleeve. The left side top edge of the sleeve has a seam split running across most of its length, except for approximately 6.5cm (2.5 inches) which is not split. The right side top edge of the sleeve has a seam split running across some of its length, except for approximately 13cm (5 inches) which is still intact. The bottom left and right edges of the sleeve are intact. The reverse side of the sleeve has a little light staining in various places.

The side opening sleeve is numbered 2595599 which makes it a Los Angeles Bert-Co 1968 second pressing. The vinyl is a Jacksonville pressing. The numbers on the run off groove are as follows: record 1 – Side 1, SWBO-1-101-J59 #2; record 1 – Side 2, SWBO-X2-101-J49 #3 2; record 2 – Side 3, SWBO-3-101-J55 #1; record 2 – Side 4, SWBO-X4-101-J48 #1. Each record is housed in a white inner sleeve. The vinyl itself is in very good condition, the record labels are in near mint condition. The poster and the photographs are in very good condition.

The album comes with both a Tracks Ltd. and Frank Caiazzo certificates of authenticity. The signatures are supported by a lifetime guarantee of authenticity and a full money back warranty.

ESTIMATE £60,000.00 to £80,000.00

MORE IMAGES ARE AVAILABLE ON REQUEST

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TRACKSAUCTION.COM

TracksAuction.com is the newly founded division of Tracks Ltd. Established in 1989, Tracks has developed into one of the world’s leading dealers of rare Beatles and pop memorabilia. They are internationally renowned Beatles specialists. Their expertise also covers that of memorabilia relating to all of the major artists and bands from the last several decades – the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd, Bob Marley, the Sex Pistols, The Clash, Madonna and Michael Jackson.

Over the last 24 years Tracks have handled some of the rarest rock ‘n roll memorabilia to come onto the market – The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix song lyrics, signed Beatles/Rolling Stones/Jimi Hendrix/Led Zeppelin albums, rare photo negatives, stage clothing worn by John Lennon on the Beatles final U.S.A. concert tour, a diary kept by Keith Richards in 1963, one of two known Beatles/Cavern concert posters, numerous sets of Beatles autographs, props from the ‘Sgt Pepper’ album, Peter Townshend’s Gibson guitar and much more.

Consignments are now being invited and accepted for both the forthcoming auction in November and that to be held in Summer 2014. Any rare item by any artist considered.

Please contact:

Jason Cornthwaite

TracksAuction.com

PO Box 117

Chorley, Lancashire

PR6 0QR, ENGLAND

Telephone: +44 (0)1257-269726

Email: info@tracksauction.com or jason@tracks.co.uk