Billy the Kid Photo Sells for $2.3M

Bidding goes crazy over Old West outlaw
By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 27, 2011 3:02 AM CDT
Billy the Kid Photo Sells for $2.3M
William Bonney, also known as Billy the Kid, circa 1880.   (AP Photo/Lincoln County Heritage Trust Archive, File)

Get out your auction paddles and ... draw! The only known surviving photo of notorious outlaw Billy the Kid has sold for a whopping $2.3 million, nearly six times the predicted sales price, notes ABC News. The scratched 1880 tintype shows the Kid with a lazy devil-may-care sneer on his face, wearing a black hat and packing a Colt pistol in his holster. It was purchased by Florida billionaire William Koch at the Annual Old West Show and Auction in Denver over the weekend.

"When the bidding ended, the whole room erupted in clapping and people leapt to their feet," said a spokeswoman for the auction. "I've never experienced anything like this before." Koch told the Denver Post: "I love the Old West. I plan on enjoying the photo and discreetly sharing it. I think I'll display it in a few small museums." The Kid, also known William H. Bonney, is believed to have killed anywhere from 9 to 21 people. He was shot dead by a sheriff at the age of 21. (More Billy the Kid stories.)

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