Old West flea market find is worth a fortune
UNITED STATES: A photograph bought at a flea market is believed to be the only image of Billy the Kid and his killer Pat Garrett together, and could be worth millions.
The pair were believed to have once been friends who gambled and drank together in Lincoln County, New Mexico. However, when Garrett was made sheriff, the friendship ended and one of the most famous feuds of the American Old West began.
The photo was bought for just US$10 at a flea market in 2011, and hung for years in a North Carolina home - in a guest room that is rented out on Airbnb.
After watching a documentary in 2015 about the discovery of a photo of Billy the Kid playing croquet, Frank Abrams, a lawyer with a keen interest in history, took another look at his photo, which he had assumed was of a group of cowboys from the American South.
Abrams carefully studied the tintype image - a photograph produced on a thin sheet of metal comparing it to other pictures of the Kid and Garrett. He eventually became convinced that the man on the right was Garrett, and the man second from the left could be the Kid.
He consulted Robert Stahl, an expert on the outlaw, and William Dunniway, a tintype specialist, who said the photo was probably taken between 1875 and 1880.
Dunniway worked with Kent Gibson, a forensics expert, on the picture. Along with help from facial recognition technology and a handwriting expert, they concluded that it was indeed a photo of the friends turned enemies.
Not only did the croquet picture sell for US$5 million in 2015, only two photos of the Kid were previously known to exist. Abrams’ photo could also be the only picture of the outlaw and the lawman together.
‘‘If I had known it was one of the most famous photos in history, I would have charged more for the room!’’ Abrams joked, adding that the image was now in a safe deposit box.
The Kid - who was born Henry Mccarty and also went by the name William H Bonney and Garrett were friends until the latter was elected Lincoln County sheriff in November 1880. He immediately warned the notorious outlaw to leave town.
The Kid remained, and Garrett arrested him. The Kid escaped, shooting dead two deputies and riding out of town - according to legend, singing as he went.
His freedom was to be shortlived. Garrett tracked down the Kid, shooting him dead at Fort Sumner in July 1881.
– Telegraph Group