Shirt stained with John Lennon’s blood sells for $41K
A shirt stained with John Lennon’s blood from the night he was murdered on the Upper West Side has sold for more than $41,000.
After being shot by deranged fan Mark David Chapman, the former Beatle stumbled through the door of The Dakota apartment building and collapsed into the hands of concierge Jay Hastings, who was wearing the shirt that sold Saturday, the Mirror reported.
“Jay Hastings kept this shirt all these years and never really spoke about it. It has just been sitting in a drawer for years and now he is getting older he felt it was time to sell it,” said Garry Shrum of Heritage Auctions on Park Avenue off East 57th Street.
“There are remnants of blood on the shirt. Some people might be appalled but it’s a piece of history. We did ask ourselves, ‘Is this too dark or wrong to sell?’ But I don’t think it is. He is not exploiting John Lennon’s death. He is telling the story of how he tried to help John Lennon in the last few minutes of his life,” Shrum said.
Hastings was on duty Dec. 8, 1980, when Lennon and wife Yoko Ono returned home after a photo shoot for Rolling Stone magazine, and a radio interview.
By: Yaron Steinbuch
Source: New York Post
