An auction of wild west items next month will feature the gun that killed Billy the Kid in 1881.


The "most iconic treasure of early Western history," according to Bonhams Auction House, is expected to fetch between $2 million and $3 million at auction on Aug. 27.

The single action army revolver belonged to Sheriff Pat Garrett, who tracked down gunfighter Billy the Kid after a months-long pursuit.

Billy the Kid allegedly killed eight men in Arizona and New Mexico and was wanted by law enforcement. He was shot and killed by Sheriff Garrett at a ranch in Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

The gun is one of more than a dozen weapons being auctioned off next month. They come from the collection of a couple in Texas who amassed Western firearms and other artifacts for about 50 years. Their family is now selling the collection.

Other highlights of the sale include a double-barrel shotgun that Billy the Kid used when he escaped from a courthouse in New Mexico, Sheriff Garrett's contract for the book he wrote about Billy the Kid, and other weapons from the same time period.

About the gun;
THE GUN THAT KILLED BILLY THE KID: PAT GARRETT'S COLT SINGLE ACTION ARMY REVOLVER USED TO KILL BILLY THE KID.
Serial number 55093 for 1880, .44-40 caliber 7 1/2 inch barrel, one line Hartford address crescent ejector rod head. DFC stamped over serial number on frame. Walnut grip. Condition: Very good with traces of blue on barrel and cylinder flutes and other protected areas. Well worn grips.
Provenance: Billy Wilson (alias of David L. Anderson); taken by Pat Garrett when he arrested Wilson and the rest of the Billy the Kid gang at Stinking Springs; used by Garrett to kill Billy the Kid at Pete Maxwell's, July 14, 1881 (notarized copy of a 1906 letter signed from Garrett); loaned to Tom Powers for exhibition at his Coney Island Saloon (appears in Tom Powers inventory and probate); recovered by Garrett's widow, Apolinaria (Pauline) Garrett, from Powers estate, 1933 (signed and notarized letter from Jarvis P. Garrett, April 20, 1983; contemporary newspaper documentation, including pictures of her with the gun); sold to Calvin Moerbe of Round Rock, Texas, 1976; sold to Jim and Theresa Earle, July 14, 1983.
Literature: Garavaglia & Worman, Firearms of the American West, 1866-1894, Albuquerque, NM, 1985, p 293; Metz, Leon Claire, Pat Garrett: The Story of a Western Lawman, Norman, OK, 1973, p 102; Wilson, R.L., The Peacemakers, New York, 1992.

SHERIFF PAT GARRETT'S COLT SINGLE ACTION WHICH HE USED TO KILL BILLY THE KID, JULY 14, 1881, AT PETE MAXWELL'S RANCH.
An iconic piece of history from one of the most important events of the early west, Sheriff Pat Garrett's yearlong pursuit of the notorious Billy the Kid. Now part of the American mythology, Garrett's friendship with the Kid, their mutual respect, and his subsequent hunt, capture, escape and death have become the stuff of legend. The subject of hundreds of songs, films from Cecil B. Demille to Sam Peckinpah, and books, not to mention Aaron Copland's opera, casting the Kid as both villainous outlaw and unsung hero fighting for justice, the story of Billy the Kid has woven its way into the American imagination. As early as 1929, historian J. Frank Dobie noted, "... because his daring apotheosized youthyouth in the saddleyouth with a flaming gunand because his daring kept him running and balancing on the edge of a frightful precipice ... Billy the Kid will always be interesting, will always appeal to the popular imagination" (Dobie, A Vaquero of the Brush Country, Austin, 1998, p 169).

Like many legends, it can be hard to sort out the fact from the fiction. Pat Garrett's Authentic Life and Death of Billy the Kid, written with his friend Ash Upson, has been criticized for stretching the truth, but it is also generally acknowledged that the second half detailing Garrett's pursuit and capture of Billy the Kid is both factual and largely written by Garrett. According to numerous reports, including Pete Maxwell's sister Juanita, Billy the Kid and Garrett were close friends since Garrett had arrived in Fort Sumner, working for Pete Maxwell at his ranch in late 1878, and then tending bar. Miguel Otero, who knew both, reports that they were often seen together in the gambling halls, where they were referred to as "Big Casino" and "Little Casino." In the fall of 1880, Garrett was recruited by cattlemen John Chisum and J.C. Lea to run for sheriff, and to subdue Billy the Kid. He won by a landslide and by November had been appointed as Deputy Sheriff, his official Sheriff commission to begin on January 1.

Things began to move quickly, with Tom O'Folliard killed in Fort Sumner by Garrett and his posse on December 19, and then the entire gang pursued to Stinking Springs, Charlie Bowdre killed, and Billy the Kid, Billy Wilson and the rest captured on December 23. Significantly, this Colt, serial number 55093, along with a Winchester rifle (see lot 8), was taken from Wilson as he was captured, and being nearly new, Garrett began to use the guns in his professional capacity. Here, before even the turn of the New Year, before his official commission had even begun, he had accomplished what he set out to do: Billy the Kid and his gang were in custody or killed.

Of course, it wouldn't last. Convicted on April 13th and sentenced to hang, Billy the Kid made his last great escape on April 28th from the Lincoln County jail, dramatically killing deputies James West and Bob Olinger (see lot 9). The Kid, instead of leaving the country, started hanging around Fort Sumner and putting in time at Pete Maxwell's ranch again, possibly having an affair with Maxwell's sister Juanita. He moved around a lot during this time, and according to Garrett, left little trace of his whereabouts, although he was rumored to be in the vicinity. But in July, Garrett and two men, John W. Poe and Deputy Thomas McKinney, rode for Fort Sumner, and arrived outside the Maxwell ranch on July 14, 1881.

In a remarkable coincidence, in the telling of Pat Garrett, Billy the Kid and Garrett, both old ranch hands of Maxwell, once friends, both made their way on that night to Maxwell's bedroom at the ranch. Garrett arrived first, looking for information, and as he sat with Maxwell in the dark, Billy the Kid, looking for food in Maxwell's kitchen, entered Maxwell's room to see what was going on. He could see someone in the dark, but trusting Maxwell, did not want to shoot, asking "Quien es? Quien es?" Garrett fired, hitting the Kid in the chest, who himself managed a single shot which lodged above Maxwell's bed, and Garrett fired once more, missing, but unnecessary, as the West's most notorious outlaw, Billy the Kid, died in Maxwell's bedroom at the hands of his friend turned tracker.

Thus ends one of the Wild West's most enduring tales, the subject of endless rewriting and interpretation, adapted across the years into a multiplicity of forms. These retellings and adaptations create a one-hundred plus year kaleidoscope of American culture and psychology, endlessly revealing our history and changing times. The Billy the Kid gun of Pat Garrett is the most important and desirable Western firearm known, as well as one of the most well documented, and has never before appeared at public auction. An American legend made manifest, this iconic piece of history and mythology memorializes both the outlaw spirit and justice, encapsulating the notion of the code of the West.

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For all Sales categories excluding Arms & Armor, Coins and Medals, Motor Cars, Motorcycles, Wine & Whisky

27.5% on the first $12,500 of the hammer price;
25% of the hammer price of amounts in excess of $12,500 up to and including $600,000;
20% of the hammer price of amounts in excess of $600,000 up to and including $6,000,000;
and 14.5% of the hammer price of any amounts in excess of $6,000,000.
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How cool would that be to own? Way cool.

$2-$3 million estimate seems low to me for something of such historical significance?

I would buy that if I was rich in a heartbeat.

Those old "working guns" saw many a complete strip judging by the buggered screws.....Pretty common during the BP cartridge era.

Thats gonna go for way more than 3 mil

It does seem low, very low.

Billy’s problem was he stayed ridin’ in the same general area long after he should have. Once the Regulators split up he should have went to Texas or anywhere but New Mexico really. He had some local support but nothing like the large network of support the James-Younger gang had in Missouri for example.

''1 of 500.''

Wow

LOL, Garrett never killed Billy.

Good story, though.

I'd buy that for a dollar!

Pretty cool collection over all. And they have two of the guns from the legend.

Betcha the shotgun brings more then 1.80

“Yoohoo, I’ll make you famous.”

If that gun could talk the stories it could tell.

I'd rather have the shotgun, "best dollar eighty I ever spent".

Guns don’t kill people

Go on

Any bets on which country it ends up in?

I, like everyone else in GD, am independently wealthy.  However the 3 million pocket money I had saved up since last week is going towards a condo in the Bahamas

So tell us what you saw.

One of the three billion people that claim to be related to him should buy it

Didn't you see the historic documentary, Young Guns II?

This.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brushy_Bill_Roberts

The auction house is certainly do well in the sale.
Puts flebay to shame.
For all Sales categories excluding Arms & Armor, Coins and Medals, Motor Cars, Motorcycles, Wine & Whisky

27.5% on the first $12,500 of the hammer price;
25% of the hammer price of amounts in excess of $12,500 up to and including $600,000;
20% of the hammer price of amounts in excess of $600,000 up to and including $6,000,000;
and 14.5% of the hammer price of any amounts in excess of $6,000,000.

That revolver is priceless, honestly it belongs in the Smithsonian.

Hell no, it would end up stored in the basement where it would probably get flooded or rust to bits.

The Smithsonian has way to much stuff stored away where it will never likely see the light of day again. [so do most of the big museums]

Scars?  Dang right I got scars.

The brushy Bill Roberts story is a good story, and I would like to believe it, but it certainly hasn’t been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Contrary to what most people believe though, the death of Billy the kid has been controversial from day one. It is not disputed that the identity of the person Pat Garrett killed that night was in question before the smoke has cleared. One of the people present immediately claimed that Garrett had shot the wrong man. One of the people who confirmed the identity of Billy the kid later recanted, and pretty much all of the towns people in Fort Sumter who saw the body insisted that it was not Billy the kid. That doesn’t prove that brushy Bill Roberts was Billy the kid and there are definitely holes in his story, not the least of which is that he had apparently claimed to be a member of the James younger gang prior to claiming to be Billy the kid. But I don’t know if that’s true or not.

That's cool.   If I was build my own space rocket for fun rich, I would buy this and track down the gun that killed Jesse James to have one kick ass mantlepiece.

Slightly OT, but this is a show about (possibly) Jesse James’ last pistol

No optics mount and no weapon light. I am out

"Buy the gun, not the story...."

Rusticly pretty

Guns don't kill people...

Bounty Killers do.

Interesting gun, the dfc proof mark was the mark used by government inspector David F. Clark. Mr. Clark would only have been inspecting guns being shipped to the US Army.  The US Army pistols were only chambered in 45 Colt. The gun isn’t US marked and is chambered in 44-40.  Either the frame was pulled from US Army production after being inspected but before being US stamped and built as a commercial 44-40 or the gun is US Army gun that has had the US marking removed and has been re-barreled and re-cylindered in 44-40.

Kinda like this? @LittlePony
Attached File

So if not BtK was Garrett then a murderer?

I'll take the gun, the car and the man

@ahnglw

destiny meets, the serial number adds up to 22 and the kid died when he was 22 wonder if anyone has put that together before.

Attached File

2-3 million, must come with ammo.

above pic colorized

Is that Granny Clampett escorting a revenuer off her property?

Here's the shotgun.
https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27262/lot/9/?category=list&length=12&page=1

They also have his 1873.

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27262/lot/10/?category=list&length=12&page=1

With some blasting, duracoat, and some fresh Punisher grips, it could be a fun truck gun.

After watchin a documentary, Bill the Kid was getting revenge on the guys who killed his boss and only father figure he ever had. A guy who gave him a real job. A group of rich cattle barons didn't want the competition from the new guy in NM. We could all be Billy's if someone killed our dad in cold blood.

I saw the movie, Pat didn't shoot, much less kill Billy

Glock 19, call it done.