A copy of The Beatles album "Beatles '65" has fetched 1.2 million yen, or about 7,800 dollars, at an auction in Japan.
Collectors say the record auctioned Monday at a record store in Nagoya City is extremely rare, as the strip is printed in brown.
Albums by Western artists were often sold in Japan with a strip of paper wrapped around the cover giving the translation of the title and other information in Japanese.
Honda Yasuhiro, a Beatles expert who also appraises items related to the British band, stressed the rarity of the record ahead of the auction. Honda said it was only his fourth time in 35 years to actually see a "Beatles '65" album with a brown strip.
Some Japanese collectors gauge the value of a Beatles vinyl album based on which color its strip has. "Beatles '65" went on sale in 1965 in the country.
The auction's reserve was set at around 5,200 dollars. The winning bid was placed online, and is the equivalent to roughly 7,800 dollars.
A man who took part in the auction said it was worth participating, because he had only ever seen copies of the record in books.
Another man says the record would be a bargain even at a price of 1 million yen, or nearly 6,500 dollars, though he could not afford to pay that much himself.