The disc, in the new Ionic Original audio format, is Dylan’s first studio recording of the folk classic since 1962, according to Christie’s, which conducted the sale in London.

Stored in a wooden cabinet, the disc features etched signatures of the Grammy Award and Nobel Prize winner, mastering engineer Jeff Powell, and musician and producer Joseph Henry “T Bone” Burnett III.

Although it is a new format, with reportedly higher fidelity and a coating that is said to make it almost impervious to normal wear-and-tear, the 25cm disc can be played on a normal record player.

According to “Variety”, those who have heard the recording so far have been limited to potential bidders at listening sessions at Christie’s in London, New York and Los Angeles, and at a few select playbacks Burnett held for members of the media and others.

As for whether the rest of the world might get to hear it, the producer indicated it would be largely in the hands of the buyer. Any public dissemination would likely happen if it ultimately gets put up for listening in a museum space, but digital reproduction would be unlikely – if not expressly prohibited.

Dylan reportedly wrote the song in just 10 minutes in a Greenwich Village café in New York City in 1962, Christie’s said.

The hammer price of £1.2 million exceeded the estimate of £600,000 to £1 million. Fees brought the final price to £1.48 million.

Other items auctioned prior to Dylan’s record at the climax of the sale included an Egyptian limestone statue from circa 2400 BC which went for £5 million, and a Stradivari violin with a starting bid of £6 million.