This marks the third time the album signed by the legendary Beatle has been put up for sale by California-based dealers Moments In Time.

John Lennon was shot outside his home which overlooked Central Park on December 8, 1980.

The building's superintendent found the signed album in a flower planter outside the front gate after Lennon was killed. He turned it over as evidence that was later used in the case against Chapman.

The album was made famous when pictures emerged in the media of Lennon signing it for his killer.

The District Attorney in the case later returned the copy to the man who found it. A lifelong Beatles fan, he went on the sell it in 1999. It was sold again in 2010 for $850,000 (€741,000).

Now the incredible artefact will change hands again. The album cover and dust jacket have Champan's forensically enhanced fingerprints. It also comes with police reports, and a letter of gratitude from the District Attorney to the man who turned the album over. On the cover, which shows Lennon kissing wife Yoko Ono, his autograph is scrawled over her neck.

Chapman continues to serve 20 year-to life in prison for Lennon's murder. He has been denied parole nine times.