THE record that Mark Chapman persuaded John Lennon to sign before he murdered him has been put up for sale for $500,000 (£274,000) after Yoko Ono refused an offer to buy it.
The Double Fantasy album, offered for sale at Moments in Time, an American website, is touted as “the most important piece of historic rock memorabilia ever”.
It was used in the prosection of Chapman, who is serving a life sentence in Attica prison in New York, and is still marked with the fingerprints of the murderer, which were enhanced by police.
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Chapman persuaded Lennon to sign the album at 5pm on December 8, 1980, but waited five hours for Lennon to return to his Manhattan flat before shooting him four times in the back.
While he was waiting he hid the record in a plant pot, where it was discovered by Philip Michael, from Hamburg, New Jersey.
Mr Michael gave the album to police but it was returned to him after Chapman pleaded guilty to murder. He waited 19 years before offering it for sale. It was bought in 1999 by an anonymous American but is now up for sale again. It comes with a letter from the police and district attorney who worked on the case.