Bought on eBay for £7, photo of Jesse James worth £2m!
A COLLECTOR paid £7 for a photograph on eBay – which turned out to be a rare snap of Wild West outlaw Jesse James worth millions.
Justin Whiting had a hunch about the Victorian tintype image, which was described by the seller as simply ‘a young man in dark suit standing by a chair’.
His instinct turned out to be correct – and now he has been told the picture could fetch up to £2million at auction.
Experts say the photo is genuine and shows James as a baby-faced 14-year-old in the early 1860s, before he made his name leading a gang of bank-robbing bandits around the mid-western US.
Mr Whiting, who says he is ‘obsessed’ with American outlaws, recognised similarities between the photo and one of James in a book he had.
The 45-year-old, from Spalding in Lincolnshire, said: ‘Anything is possible on eBay so I kept buying the odd photograph for a few quid, like other people would buy a lottery ticket. I thought to myself, “Gee whiz, this could be a real photo!”’
After buying it in July last year he had it verified by two specialists in the US. Will Dunniway, a 19th century photography expert in California, dated the image to about 1861-2. Comparing it to a well-known snap of James, he believes it was taken on the same day – by the same photographer.
It was also sent to US forensic expert Kent Gibson, who used facial recognition technology to match the photo to an existing one of James. He had already authenticated a picture of another US outlaw, Billy the Kid, three years ago which was valued at £3.5million.
Mr Whiting, who is single and does not work because of a back condition, is now in talks with London auction house Christie’s. He said: ‘I’ll be able to buy my own house and my own car. I can’t wait.’
James’s murderous rampage continued for more than a decade until he was killed by gang member Robert Ford in 1882.