Album John Lennon signed for killer expected to sell for $2 million at auction
Words by Riley Fitzgerald
Graphic by Press
On December 8, 1980, John Lennon left his New York apartment.
Rushing to the awaiting car that would ferry him to what would be his last recording session, Lennon greeted a mob of zealous fans.
As he laughed and shook hands, John signed several autographs.
Amongst the items on which Lennon scrawled his name was a copy of his sixth studio album Double Fantasy.
The owner?
The man who would riddle his body with bullets 5 hours later.
With John Lennon’s killer, Mark Chapman committed to a mental institution with little hope of release, the album containing one of the Beatle‘s final signatures has passed through several hands.
The album was sold in 1998 for $150,000 (US) and most recently in 2010 for $850,000.
In 2017 it auctioned for $1.8 million dollars.
In 2020 it has once again surfaced on music memorabilia website Moments In Time.
“The album, originally acquired by the gentleman who found it in the front gate flower planter outside the Dakota, home of the late John Lennon in 1980,” the Moments In Time website shares, “was made famous when pictures of Lennon signing the album for Chapman appeared in the newspapers and on TV stations around the world.”
“A Beatle fan all of his life,” the site continues, “[the owner] wrestled for 19 years before coming to the decision to sell the album. The album was sold to a private buyer in 1999 by Moments In Time Inc and is now being offered once again exclusively here. The album bears the signature of John Lennon and is dated 1980.”
The site then shares some a fairly morbid detail: “The cover and dust jacket contain forensically enhanced fingerprints of Chapman. This piece of crucial evidence against Chapman was turned into police and then returned to the owner with a letter of extreme gratitude from the District Attorney.”
The price of the album is simply listed as ‘available upon request’ – though TMZ estimated the album will fetch $2 million.
December 8th will mark the 40th anniversary of the Beatle’s death.
Full details of the auction here.
