Billy the Kid photo bought for $2 could be sold for $5 million
By Barney Henderson, New York
The photograph of Billy the Kid whch was purchased for $2 at a Fresno junk shop in 2010, could sell for millions at auction. Photo: Kagin’s
Billy the Kid, the Wild West gunslinger, is usually associated with a Colt single action 44, not the genteel English elegance of a varnished oak croquet mallet.
However an extremely rare photograph of the legendary outlaw leaning on a croquet mallet has emerged – only the second known photo of “The Kid”, whose real name is Henry McCarty, thought to exist.
The photo shows McCarty playing croquet with his gang of Lincoln County Regulators in late summer 1878.
It was bought by collector Randy Guijarro for $2 from a Californian junk shop in 2010 and will now be sold by Kagin’s auctioneers for an estimated $5 million.
“When we first saw the photograph, we were understandably sceptical — an original Billy the Kid photo is the holy grail of Western Americana,” said Kagin’s David McCarthy.