How much would you pay for a scratchy vinyl version of the The Beatles’ White Album covered with fingerprints? How about three-quarters of a million dollars?
That’s what someone paid for Ringo Starr’s copy — $790,000 for the disk that was the first ever copy to come off the presses.
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It set a record price for a one-of-a-kind audio recording and it was just one of 1,300 items the former drummer for The Beatles auctioned off Saturday to raise money for the Lotus Foundation. That’s the foundation Starr and wife Barbara Bach created to support animal welfare and people dealing with substance abuse, cancer, cerebral palsy, domestic abuse.
The two decided in September to auction off items that had been in storage for years.
“We’re fed up with having the stuff in storage when it could be put to some good use and also give a lot of people joy,” Starr told the Associated Press at the time.
Starr’s drum kit used on hits like “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “Can’t Buy Me Love” sold for nearly $2.2 million, and a 1964 Rickenbacker guitar John Lennon gave Starr raised another $900,000.
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Whoever bought the White Album, serial number 0000001, will find it’s in pretty much the same shape as any 1968 copy you could pick up in a used record store–but this disk will have something special.
“Whoever gets it, it will have my fingerprints on it,” Starr said.
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