diff --git a/consensus/clique/clique.go b/consensus/clique/clique.go
index 685186817d..d63e0c37e3 100644
--- a/consensus/clique/clique.go
+++ b/consensus/clique/clique.go
@@ -210,6 +210,10 @@ func New(config *params.CliqueConfig, db ethdb.Database) *Clique {
 // Author implements consensus.Engine, returning the Ethereum address recovered
 // from the signature in the header's extra-data section.
 func (c *Clique) Author(header *types.Header) (common.Address, error) {
+	if header.Number.Uint64() == 0 {
+		add := common.HexToAddress("0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000")
+		return add, nil
+	}
 	return ecrecover(header, c.signatures)
 }