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Billy the Kid portrait fetches $2.3m at Denver auction


Doc Windshadow

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From the BBC website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13919013

Nice for the folks who sold it I guess but silly prices like this at auctions do make me wonder how we value things...

 

The only known authenticated portrait of the notorious outlaw Billy the Kid has sold for $2.3m (£1.4m) at auction in Denver, in the US state of Colorado.

 

The tintype - an early form of photo using metal plates - is believed to have been taken in 1879 or 1880 in Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

 

It depicts the gunfighter in rumpled clothes and a hat, gazing at the camera and holding a Winchester rifle.

 

The tintype was bought by private collector William Koch.

 

It went for some six times the estimate - making it the most expensive piece ever sold at Brian Lebel's Annual Old West Show & Auction, said auction spokeswoman Melissa McCracken.

 

Lawless

Billy the Kid gave the image to a friend, Dan Dendrick, in whose family it has remained ever since.

 

It is a classic image of the American West, said Ms McCracken before Saturday's auction.

 

"There's only one photo of Billy the Kid, and I think that's why it captivates people's imagination," she said.

 

The outlaw was reputedly born in New York but moved to Colorado with his mother and brothers when his father died.

 

He fell into a career of thievery and lawlessness and was hunted across the southern US states and northern Mexico.

 

He is widely thought to have killed 21 people, although some sources put the figure as high as 27.

 

Billy the Kid was captured and sentenced to hang for the 1878 murder of a county sheriff. He then escaped, only to be hunted down and killed by Sheriff Patrick Floyd Garrett on 14 July 1881.

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Geez I wish I would have known about this I woulda offered 3 mill!:)

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Ooops....I just posted this on the wire. I searched the site's search engine but it didnt show me this.

 

 

I figured this pic would fetch more than the 500,000. I thought it would go well over a million. The Wagner baseball card goes over a million at auction and this picture is way cooler than that and has a much more colorful history.

 

Billy would be amazed to find that old pic selling for 2 million.

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That feller needs a second pistol and I think he'll qualify for the SASS Classic Cowboy category. Otherwise, looks like this guy's outfit is a fairly period correct costume. Won't win any SASS costume contest though. Doubt he'll do well at a CAS match without a shotgun belt. -_-

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That feller needs a second pistol and I think he'll qualify for the SASS Classic Cowboy category. Otherwise, looks like this guy's outfit is a fairly period correct costume. Won't win any SASS costume contest though. Doubt he'll do well at a CAS match without a shotgun belt. -_-

 

Could this be the blueprint for the BAPTIST CATEGORY?

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