The gun that killed Billy the Kid was sold for an absurdly record amount

The extremely dramatic auction took place on August 27 at Bonhams auction house in Los Angeles. Guns of famous gunfighters of the Wild West went up for sale; revolvers and rifles that had been involved in famous gunfights. The most expensive of these is the Colt .44 that Sheriff Pat Garrett used to shoot America's most famous outlaw, Billy the Kid. Due to the overwhelming interest of bidders from around the world, Garretthis Colt set a new world record as the most expensive firearm ever sold at auction.
The gun originally belonged to Billy Wilson, one of the Kid's gang shooters. When the sheriff Garrett captured his surviving members in Stinking Springs on December 23, 1880, he also confiscated Wilson's Colt and his Winchester rifle. He subsequently used both weapons in the line of duty: "Billy the Kid" was sentenced to death on April 13, but fifteen days later escaped from the Lincoln County Courthouse jail, killing two court clerks. Garrett tracked Billy the Kid to Pete Maxwell's ranch in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, where he shot him with Wilson's very gun.

Also sold at auction were Wilson's Winchester rifle and two other guns that Kid stole while fleeing the Lincoln County Courthouse: the shotgun he took from Deputy Bob Olinger and then killed him with, and the .73 Winchester he stole from the open armory as he exited the building. Another famous gun belonging to another icon of the West was also auctioned off: "Wild" Bill Hickok's Springfield Trapdoor rifle, which was buried with Bill in Deadwood after his murder by the coward Jack McCall in 1876. It is James Butler Hickok's only documented firearm. It is engraved with the name "JB Hickock" on the left side of the stock, and the monogram "JB" on the right side.

The discovery of the weapon is related to the relocation of the Deadwood Cemetery, the portion with Wild Bill's grave due to the expansion of the development, which was unconsecrated and moved to the new Mount Moriah Cemetery in 1879. Hickok's body was handled by four men, including Bill's old friend Charlie Utter. In the process, the rifle was stolen from the grave and never returned. Soon after, it turned up at the home of one John Bradley of Spearfish, South Dakota, who used it for the rest of his life. It remained in his family until 1993, when it was sold to collector Jim Earl, whose collection has now been sold at auction:
The price for the Colt .44 that killed Billy the Kid eventually climbed to a fabulous $6,030,313, or nearly $129 million!

Billy the Kid's "Whitney" type shotgun, which Bill stole from Bob Olinger and then killed him with it while escaping on April 28, 1881, sold for $978,313 (just under 21 million crowns).
John Selman's Army "Colt Single Action" revolver used in the shootout with John Wesley Hardin at the Acme Saloon in El Paso, Texas on August 19, 1895. Sold for $858,313 (18.3 million).

Smith & Wesson "Double Action Frontier" revolver of John Wesley Hardin, who was killed by John Selman: Sold for $625,313 ($13.3 million). A "Springfield Trapdoor" type rifle that was buried with Wild Bill Hickok in Deadwood, South Dakota on August 3, 1876. It sold for $475,313 (10.1 million crowns).
Bids in the auction were received via telephone and online bidding, as well as in the auction room itself on Friday, August 27, 2021. All of the guns in the Jim and Theresa Earle collection were eventually purchased by a single bidder who outbid everyone and ended up paying a cumulative total of $12,387,124 for the collection, which at current exchange rates is a whopping $265 million!

Roman Nemec

The Colt that killed Sheriff Pat Garrett Biily Kid

Wild Bill Hickock's Rifle

Sources: bonhams.com, antiquesandthearts.com, thehistoryblog.com