Rare photo of Billy the Kid worth $5 million found at a junk shop for two Dollars
Oct 14, 2015
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Ever heard those stories of people who bought some old painting for $5 at a garage sale and later discovered it was a super expensive piece of art worth a fortune?
Well, a happy customer of a junk shop in Fresno, California hit the jackpot buying and old photo for $2 that turned out to be only the second confirmed image of the infamous outlaw Billy the Kid.
It’s not clear if the buyer knew what he was looking at when he bought it, but the photo has been authenticated and is said to be worth up to $5 million.
I don’t know exactly why there are so few photos of Henry McCarthy, aka Billy the Kid, but I suspect it could have something to do with the fact that he was an outlaw and that his violent life came to an end at the age of 21.
Whatever the reason, few people would have expected this next photo. The only confirmed photo of the infamous outlaw to date is a tintype of him from 1880 posing with his rifle.
The new photo, however, shows him in a less characteristic setting. While McCarthy is seen with several members of his posse, the Regulators, he has replaced his usual weapon for a croquet mallet.
Taken in New Mexico in 1878, the 4×5 photo shows McCarthy with friends, family and other members of the Regulators after a summer wedding. The photo is said to be taken just a month after the brutal Lincoln County War.
Found in a pile of photos inside a cardboard box and purchased for $2, it is easy to understand why Kagin’s experts, a San Francisco-based Americana company, were skeptical when the faded photo was first brought in by Randy Guijarro.
“An original Billy the Kid photo is the holy grail of Western Americana,” said David McCarthy of Kagin’s (no family relationship, I assume).
“We had to be certain that we could answer and verify where, when, how and why this photograph was taken. Simple resemblance is not enough in a case like this – a team of experts had to be assembled to address each and every detail in the photo to ensure that nothing was out of place,” he added.
Kagin’s definitely took the task seriously, and the team of experts spent an entire year investigating the photo and authenticating it.
The investigation included finding the location where the photo was taken, which turned out to be in Chaves County, New Mexico. Once the location was discovered, the team went on to unearth the remains of the building shown in the photo.
“We found the old lumber underneath. We found those exact rock piers are still there,” said Jeff Aiello. Aiello is the director of a National Geographic Channel documentary on the exciting find set to be broadcast this month, narrated and produced by Kevin Costner.
“The historical importance of a photograph of Billy the Kid alongside known members of his gang and prominent Lincoln County citizens is incalculable – this is perhaps the single most compelling piece of Western Americana that we have ever seen,” stated Dr. Donald Kagin, president of Kagin’s.
The previous, and until recently only, authenticated photo of Billy the Kid sold for $2.3 million in 2011 and some experts say the “new” photo could be worth over twice as much.
The photo was unearthed by Guijarro in 2010 and although the authentication process took quite a long time, it definitely turned out to be worthwhile. Maybe even $5 million worthwhile.
[via The Guardian]
Liron Samuels
Liron Samuels is a wildlife and commercial photographer based in Israel. When he isn’t waking up at 4am to take photos of nature, he stays awake until 4am taking photos of the night skies or time lapses. You can see more of his work on his website or follow him on Facebook.
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7 responses to “Rare photo of Billy the Kid worth $5 million found at a junk shop for two Dollars”
What a great day Randy Guijarro had. Some people turn their noses up to these kinds of stores. I for one look at old pictures and jump into the picture to try and figure out what kind of day they were having. Unlike our current time things were really hard for many and to have seen this family playing in this photo would have been a nice find all on its own, but to find such a rare picture that was discarded is wonderful. I will bet more people will keep their noses down and consider looking at a junk shop now and then. Congratulations Randy you just kept some history alive for many of us that is amazing.
What I would like to know is this:
1 – How does a person verify who is in the photo?
2 – If a person should come across such a photo, how do they get it appraised?
3 – Who would actually pay millions for this picture?
I am not being snarky, I would like to know the real answers to the questions above.
A whole TV documentary was done on this, called “Billy The Kid – New Evidence” It shows Randy, his wife Linda, and the whole process of finding the location the picture was taken, and proving that it is really Billy The Kid and other people in the photo. It’s about 3 hours long but it is really quite interesting and it answers all your questions.
So…having missed the original airing date, do you have any idea where I can now find it? – Thanks! – J. Ross
I just missed buying it
A quick google search reveals there are at least a handful of photos of Billy the kid known, the rifle shot is just the most well-known and popular and has been printed forward and backwards and in various tonings and exposures… But in many of the shots he is wearing different clothes and doesn’t have a gun… Perhaps these are fakes but from where I sit, I have no more reason to believe these are faked than I do the rifle shot or indeed this new one. They certainly all look like genuine old photos which have not been doctored and all of the same person potentially. It is possible certainly to do a good job with photoshop. I teach it, so I know and it is certainly possible to use forensics to determine to a reasonable degree of accuracy as to whether something is likely a fake… I know, I’ve studied it. But as for identifying with certainty the face of a certain person and what’s more the face of a person for which there is purportedly only one known source from which to extract any data is a bit hard to swallow. I love the way that how the seemingly impossible is done is just glossed over by most people who report journalistically. If there is truth to this story then the reader needs to know and understand the details to believe it. Well, that’s untrue… most people will believe anything a journalist tells them but people who think critically and scientifically won’t. Without this detail, the story just seems untrue even if it isn’t. My two big questions are 1. Where did the information and evidence that all shots but the rifle shot are fake come from as it seems to contradict both the evidence before me and popular thought on the matter and how sure can we be of this? And 2. How could the face in this new image be determined beyond any doubt to be any one person’s face especially when there is so little data on that person’s appearance?
They compared the only authenticated picture of BTK (the one owned by Koch for 2.3 million) and got an 80.5% match using facial recognition software and the test was performed by an NSA contractor and expert in facial recognition. Additionally the received an 80.5% match on Sallie (BTK’s possible sweetheart at the time) and over 70% matches on O’Folliard and Charlie Bowdre, both known members of the Regulators who also have authenticated photos.
It is not 100% conclusive. But the preponderance of the evidence suggests that this is an actual photo of a real event attended by Billy the Kid and the Regulators. Most likely the event was the wedding of Charlie Bowdre (on the horse next to his bride Manuela)