$2 photo at junk shop turns out to be worth $5M

[kxl]

An old photo (4x5 inch tintype) found in a junk shop in Fresno, California for $2, which turns out to be only the second confirmed (authenticated) image of the infamous outlaw Billy the Kid. Could be worth up to $5M.

Here's a crop of the same image with Billy the Kid (left) leaning against a croquet mallet.

 

[raid]

Very interesting, and very lucky buyer if confirmed.

 

[photomoof]

Seems optimistic.

 

[Spanik]

I'm more amazed at the amount of detail in the photo. Can't imagine it has been stored in the optimal environment since 1880. Will we be able to look at a jpg from today in 2150?

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I can't imagine it to be worth of $5. Is where fan club of of this Billy?
"to be" or "could be"?

 

[f16sunshine]

Seems optimistic.

Yes that's what I feel as well. Fun story though. 🙂

 

[Roger Hicks]

Seems optimistic.

Well, "up to" is a wonderfully useful weasel phrase, which also includes "nothing" and "$1000". If you owned it, wouldn't you want to talk the price up as far as possible?

Besides, imagine you are a croquet-loving billionaire who is fascinated by the gunslingers of the Old West. Wouldn't you then pay $5,000,000 for it? Or even more, if you were up against another croquet-loving billionaire who is fascinated by the gunslingers of the Old West: there must be dozens in that club. Cheaper, too, than running for president...

Cheers,

R.

 

[telenous]

I can't imagine it to be worth of $5. ...

It's not that bad if it sells for $5, the person who bought it will have (over-)doubled their investment. 😀

Great photo to look at, authenticated Billy-the-Kid or not.

.

 

[pechelman]

considering the only other picture of him last sold for 2.3M, while 5M may be optimistic, it is likely to be the correct order of magnitude.

cool old photo nevertheless of the subject

 

[xayraa33]

The guy on the right is the great grandfather of Adam Faith.

 

[Corran]

This guy is posting tons of images from this set and discussing it over at the LF forum.

It seems like the "collection" includes tons of images of the Kid, so it seems like the "rarity" of the item has now been drastically reduced. Also apparently he is having trouble getting it authenticated. Anyone interested should go read about it. Not my cup of tea personally but the monetary value thing is mildly interesting.

 

[goamules]

No Corran, that guy is riding on the coat tails of the current find. We don't know where he came from, who he is, and a lot of his postings are of photos that are already on the internet.

The current find the OP posted is a big deal. There is a National Geographic special on the croquet tintype this weekend "Billy the Kid: New Evidence" with Kevin Costner and Robert Redford involved. And my friend Will Dunniway, who was the "tintype technology" expert. I've known this was coming for about 6 months, but was asked to not advertise it.

Sunday, 19 Oct: http://channel.nationalgeographic.c...ence/at/billy-the-kid-new-evidence14-2100466/

 

[Corran]

Oh, okay, I didn't realize that. I thought it was the same.

 

[kxl]

I can't imagine it to be worth of $5. Is where fan club of of this Billy? "to be" or "could be"?

Not a fan of the wild, wild west, I see... Just do an internet search on famous/infamous/notorious outlaws of the old west, and if 'Billy the Kid' rates lower than #1, I'd be very surprised.

Besides, imagine you are a croquet-loving billionaire who is fascinated by the gunslingers of the Old West. Wouldn't you then pay $5,000,000 for it? Or even more, if you were up against another croquet-loving billionaire who is fascinated by the gunslingers of the Old West: there must be dozens in that club.

Remove 'croquet-loving' and that club probably has over a hundred members in California alone, considering this state has more billionaires than any country except for the US and China. And the fact that you can never underestimate the mystique of the old west for those who live in the western states.

considering the only other picture of him last sold for 2.3M, while 5M may be optimistic, it is likely to be the correct order of magnitude.

Yup, considering its authenticated rarity, this will probably go for around $3M to $4M.

The current find the OP posted is a big deal. There is a National Geographic special on the croquet tintype this weekend "Billy the Kid: New Evidence" with Kevin Costner and Robert Redford involved. And my friend Will Dunniway, who was the "tintype technology" expert. I've known this was coming for about 6 months, but was asked to not advertise it.

Sunday, 19 Oct: http://channel.nationalgeographic.c...ence/at/billy-the-kid-new-evidence14-2100466/

EXACTLY!

 

[raid]

I think that NPR said today that the photo has been authenticated.

 

[Roger Hicks]

. . . Remove 'croquet-loving' and that club probably has over a hundred members in California alone, considering this state has more billionaires than any country except for the US and China. And the fact that you can never underestimate the mystique of the old west for those who live in the western states. . .

Dear Keith,

That's why I included "croquet loving". After all, you have to narrow it down somehow.

I love the fact that they're playing croquet. Anyone else ever play it? It's thoroughly vicious and unprincipled: I learned it at the age of about 16 from the daughter of some friends. She was utterly beautiful (think Alice in Wonderland) and also vicious and unprincipled, at least on the croquet lawn. At 7 years old (her age at the time) she could solve quadratics in her head faster than I could on paper.

Cheers,

R.

 

[kxl]

I think that NPR said today that the photo has been authenticated.

Hi Raid - that is my understanding as well--only the second authenticated photo of Billy the Kid. As posted above, the first one fetched a cool $2.3M. I actually dug a little deeper and found out that the $2.3M sale was at an auction in Denver in June, 2011. The auctioneers had estimated before the auction that the photo would go for $300K-$400K, so they were very pleasantly surprised by the winning bid.

The winning bidder for that one was William Koch, who founded Oxbow Carbon ($4B in annual sales), and whose brothers own Koch Industries.

Just an interesting background to the first photo... 🙂

 

[kxl]

Dear Keith,

That's why I included "croquet loving". After all, you have to narrow it down somehow.

I love the fact that they're playing croquet. Anyone else ever play it? It's thoroughly vicious and unprincipled: I learned it at the age of about 16 from the daughter of some friends. She was utterly beautiful (think Alice in Wonderland) and also vicious and unprincipled, at least on the croquet lawn. At 7 years old (her age at the time) she could solve quadratics in her head faster than I could on paper.

Cheers,

R.

Roger - I do like the juxtaposition of a vicious outlaw playing a gentleman's game, and leaning against a croquet mallet instead of the usual tool of his trade.

I'm trying to visualize an utterly beautiful, vicious and unprincipled girl on a croquet lawn and can't help but smile.

I have watched croquet being played but I must profess to never having played myself.

Cheers!

-Keith