Double Fantasy: John & Yoko Sterling Silver Cartier Cigarette Box 1980

On June 14th 2009, Bonhams & Butterfields auctioned 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 came with a letter of provenance handwritten by Hair, was estimated to have sold for £6000