Tragic John Lennon Sterling Cartier Box at Auction
On June 14 Bonhams & Butterfields is auctioning off a sterling silver Cartier cigarette box with an extremely interesting provenance as part of their Entertainment Memorabilia sale in Los Angeles. For Christmas in 1980 John Lennon and Yoko Ono commissioned 12 of the boxes from the famous French jeweler and had them engraved "Double Fantasy / Xmas 1980 / N.Y.C. / John & Yoko." Shortly before they were being readied to send out however John was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman outside their New York apartment house, the Dakota, on December 8th. Despite the horrific tragedy, Yoko ended up sending out the boxes because as their Dakota neighbor Marnie Oetrozze Hair, who owned this one, noted, Lennon had made out the list of recipients back in October. The box, which comes with a letter of provenance handwritten by Hair, is estimated at $3,000 - $5,000.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Steve Jun 12th 2009 10:52AM
I think the idea is you're not supposed to mention the name of Lennon's killer, as he wanted fame that's the best way to avoid giving it to him.
Valerie Jun 12th 2009 2:28PM
Thank You Steve,I agree.The whole horrible story didn't need to be repeated here.Any Lennon fan already knows who,where and how.I also don't understand how this woman could sell this box,I mean one of only 12 from John & Yoko,what a treasure.