John Lennon’s Signed Album For His Killer Will Go To Auction

A copy of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s album Double Fantasy, which was signed by Lennon for his killer Mark David Chapman, will be up for sale at an auction.

Facilitator Goldin Auctions placed a minimum price on the album for $400,000, with bidding opening on November 23. The said copy bears Lennon’s signature and the year 1980, along with several markings that the authorities added when it was used as evidence. It also comes with a letter of authenticity along with a plexiglass holder.

It was the late afternoon of December 8, 1980, when Chapman asked Lennon, who was going out of his Dakota Apartment in New York, for an autograph of his copy of Double Fantasy, which had been out six months prior. Lennon granted it to him and proceeded to go to Record Plant with Yoko Ono for a session. They returned six hours later to find Chapman still waiting for them, where he then shot Lennon at the back. The New York Daily News’ evening edition cover was that of Lennon signing the album as Chapman watched and waited.

The listing says Chapman had placed the record in a planter next to the Dakota and was later discovered by someone who turned it to the police, who then stored it under his bed for 18 years when it was returned. It was then sold in 1999 for $150,000, and again in 2003 and 2010 for $850,000. The album was on sale in 2017 with the asking price of $1.7 million.

Chapman is still serving a life sentence at the Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, N.Y. He applied for parole earlier this year but was denied for the 11th time, and will have to wait until 2022 to be eligible again.