Material & does not exist and therefore cannot be versioned

What causes this issue?

You can only assign versions to materials that have already been
created. The material &v1& has not yet been created.

System Response

The system issues an error message and will not allow you to continue with this transaction until the error is resolved.

How to fix this error?

Create material &v1& as a normal material. You can then assign a
version to it.

Procedure for System Administrators

Error message extract from SAP system. Copyright SAP SE.