There’s been a flurry of John Lennon memorabilia up for sale of late but this item takes the cake – and is possibly one of the most ghoulish items of rock n’ roll memorabilia to be put up for sale. A copy of Double Fantasy, which Lennon signed on the afternoon of December 8th 1980 for crazed fan Mark David Chapman, is being offered for sale by US autograph auctioneers www.momentsintime.com and is expected to fetch around $US850,000. Chapman shot Lennon dead outside the Dakota Building only five hours later. The album is complete with Lennon’s autograph, police evidence markings and Chapman’s forensically enhanced fingerprints. A Beatles fan had found the album in a plant holder outside the building after the shooting.
“We are very excited to bring such a historically significant piece to the market”, says Bob Zafian, spokesman for Moments in Time. “I have never come across a piece with such provenance; police reports, fingerprint documentation, letters from the District Attorney, it goes on and on”. Moments in time President Gary Crozier told the New York Post “The album is the most extraordinary artifact in rock and roll history. It has Lennon’s signature on the cover and Chapman’s forensically enhanced finger prints on the sleeve. There are evidence markings from the NYPD. I originally sold it in 1999, but it has come back up for resale. The current owner doesn’t want to be named because he received death threats.”
