28 February 2011 Last updated at 01:24 ET

John and Yoko autographs for sale in Ireland

'Sweet as pie' - a Mayo teenager's memories of John Lennon and Yoko Ono

John Lennon and Yoko Ono's autographs secured by a Mayo teenager more than 40 years ago are to be auctioned next week.

Sheppard's Irish Auction House in the Republic of Ireland, is to sell the signatures in Durrow, County Laois, next Wednesday.

They have been valued at between 500 to 800 euros.

Auctioneer Michael Sheppard told the Irish Times that the autographs were being sold by a man who had asked the couple to sign his autograph book during a visit in 1968.

The couple were staying at a hotel in Mulranny that summer and the teenager "psyched himself up" and on to the hotel on 23 June to ask for their autographs.

He said they were "sweet as pie" to him.

John Lennon had bought Dorinish island in Clew Bay and it was said that he had wanted to build a house there. But that never happened.

He was shot dead in New York in 1980 and Yoko Ono later sold the island to a local farmer.