Courtesy of MomentsinTime.comA morbid-yet-historic piece of John Lennon memorabilia — a copy of his 1980 album Double Fantasy that he autographed for his murderer, Mark David Chapman, five hours before Chapman shot the Beatles legend to death — is being sold via the Moments in Time autograph dealer.
Moments in Time president Gary Zimet tells ABC Radio that the asking price for the LP, which was found by a lifelong Lennon fan in a flower planter outside of the Dakota building not long after John was killed, is $1.5 million.
Double Fantasy‘s cover features a photo of Lennon kissing his wife and collaborator Yoko Ono, and John signed his name and “1980” on the front of Chapman’s copy of the album, over Yoko’s neck. Since the LP was entered into evidence in the assassin’s murder trial, its cover and dust jacket also feature Chapman’s forensically enhanced fingerprints.
After the trial, the album was returned to the man who found it, along with a letter of gratitude from New York City’s district attorney. According to Zimet, the man sold the signed LP in 1999 for $150,000; it was sold again in 2010 for $850,000 to an anonymous collector. The album is currently being sold with the aforementioned letter from the New York D.A.
“We are very excited to bring such a historically significant piece to the market,” says Moments in Time spokesman Bob Zafian. “I have never come across a piece with such provenance; police reports, fingerprint documentation, letters from the District Attorney, it goes on and on.”
Chapman continues to serve a 20-years-to-life sentence for killing Lennon; he’s been denied parole nine times.
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