The album that John Lennon signed for Mark Chapman hours before the fan killed the former Beatle is up for sale at over £500,000.
Mark Chapman [left], who murdered John Lennon in front of his wife Yoko Ono, will not be allow to reapply for parole until 2010 Photo: AP/PA
The Double Fantasy LP was signed by Lennon as he left his home at the Dakota building in New York City on December 8th 1980.
When he returned five hours later with his wife Yoko Ono from a recording session he was shot dead by Chapman.
Photographer Paul Goresh was among the fans outside Lennon's home and took the only photograph of the singer signing the album with a Chapman in the background.
In the chaotic aftermath of the shooting the album was dropped on the floor.
A maintenance man found the record at the Dakota entrance and handed it over as evidence.
It was later returned by New York City prosecutors with a letter of thanks from the District Attorney involved in the prosecution of Chapman.
The album is being sold for $850,000 through autograph dealer Gary Zimet's online site momentsintime.com.
"The album is the most extraordinary artefact in rock and roll history. It has Lennon's signature on the cover and Chapman's forensically enhanced finger prints on the sleeve," said Mr Zimet.
"There are evidence markings from the NYPD. I originally sold it in 1999, but it has come back up for resale."
He said the current owner has chosen to remain anonymous because he received death threats.
Chapman is currently serving a life sentence in Attica prison in upstate New York.
His most recent appeal for parole was rejected with Yoko One saying she was opposed to her husband's killer being set free.
Last month millions of Lennon fans around the world celebrated what would have been his 70th birthday.
Memorial services are planned for the 30th anniversary of his death next month with hundreds of fans expected to make a pilgrimage to the Strawberry Fields Memorial Garden in New York's Central Park
A maintenance man found the record at the Dakota entrance and handed it over as evidence.
It was later returned by New York City prosecutors with a letter of thanks from the District Attorney involved in the prosecution of Chapman.
The album is being sold for $850,000 through autograph dealer Gary Zimet's online site momentsintime.com.
"The album is the most extraordinary artefact in rock and roll history. It has Lennon's signature on the cover and Chapman's forensically enhanced finger prints on the sleeve," said Mr Zimet.
"There are evidence markings from the NYPD. I originally sold it in 1999, but it has come back up for resale."
He said the current owner has chosen to remain anonymous because he received death threats.
Chapman is currently serving a life sentence in Attica prison in upstate New York.
His most recent appeal for parole was rejected with Yoko One saying she was opposed to her husband's killer being set free.
Last month millions of Lennon fans around the world celebrated what would have been his 70th birthday.
Memorial services are planned for the 30th anniversary of his death next month with hundreds of fans expected to make a pilgrimage to the Strawberry Fields Memorial Garden in New York's Central Park
