Lot 603
(The Beatles) John Lennon's Last Autograph. A 7" x 5" piece of tan, lined paper signed, "for Ribeah, love, John Lennon" followed by doodled portraits of himself and Yoko, followed by the year, "1980." Yoko Ono signed below John.
This historic item was signed by Lennon for the switchboard operator at Record Plant Studios in New York City on the night of December 8, 1980 at approximately 10:25 P.M., immediately before leaving the studios and heading back to the Dakota, where Mark David Chapman shot and fatally wounded him at 10:50 P.M.
A sworn affadavit, signed by Rabiah Vincent, the switchboard operator who obtained Lennon's final autograph, accompanies the piece and is framed with it (on the back).Sworn before a notary public on December 16, 1980, the affadavit says, in part: "I am an employee at Record Plant Studios, 321 West 44th Street, New York, New York. I was operating the switchboard at the Record Plant on the night of December 8, 1980, from 5:00 P.M. until 3:00 A.M. the next morning… John Lennon and Yoko Ono were working at the Record Plant that night with their producer Jack Douglas in the mixing room on the 10th Floor. At approximately 10:25 P.M. as John Lennon and Yoko Ono were leaving Record Plant they gave me a drawing done by John Lennon and signed by him and Yoko Ono…."
Around 5 P.M. on December 8th Lennon signed a copy of his Double Fantasy album for Chapman, who was waiting outside the Dakota as Lennon and Ono left for the recording studio. Chapman, who had come from Hawaii with the express intention of murdering Lennon, had the gun in his pocket at that time but did not carry out his diabolical plan until John and Yoko returned that night.
John's last autograph is matted and framed to an overall size of 12¼ 10¼". A unique and poignant memento.
Estimated Value $40,000 - 50,000.
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