While most Beatles fans like the group’s self-titled effort – nicknamed the White Album – because of its diversity, one New York collector says he’s enamored by the 1968 double album for a different reason: its plain, white cover.
Artist Rutherford Chang says he owns more than 3,200 copies of the White Album – and, unlike most obsessed fans’ collections – not a single one is even close to mint condition. And Chang says he wouldn’t have it any other way. “I was interested in the different ways that the covers aged,” he says. “Being an all-white cover, the changes are apparent. The serial numbers made collecting them seem natural, and the more I got, the more interesting it became. As you see, many of them are written on, and each has a story.”
While 3,200 copies of anything would be more than enough for the average person, Chang says he plans to continue building on that number. “I can’t stop,” he admits. "I’m basically doing what record collectors do, except focusing it on a very particular item. I understand their sickness."
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