'Final' Lennon autograph for sale

Lennon signed the note for Ribeah (sic) on 8 December 1980

A note featuring what is believed to be John Lennon's last autograph is on sale for $325,000 (£179,500).

The singer signed the note for Rabiah Seminole, a switchboard operator at his New York recording studio, just before he was shot dead in December 1980.

The former Beatle's last autograph was previously believed to be the one he signed for his killer, Mark Chapman, six hours before his murder.

Seminole is selling the note to raise money for her Virginia horse sanctuary.

Lennon drew a cartoon self-portrait and signed his name as he left the Record Plant studio in New York on 8 December.

Fifteen minutes later, he was gunned down outside his apartment by Chapman.

Seminole kept the signed note on her bedroom wall for years before deciding to sell it via memorabilia website Moments in Time.

Mark Chapman's signed copy of Lennon's Double Fantasy LP

The same site offered Chapman's signed copy of Lennon's Double Fantasy LP last year for $525,000 (£290,000).

"I didn't want to capitalise on John's death, but he was a nature lover and I think he would have wanted me to sell it for the horses," said Seminole.

A spokesman for Moments in Time called the note "an incredible find".

More than two decades after his death, Lennon's possessions continue to fetch substantial sums at auction.

His hand-written lyrics to the Beatles song Nowhere Man sold for $455,000 (£251,000) at Christie's in New York in November 2003.

And a guitar thought to have belonged to the musician went on sale in February for £1.3m.