Six years ago, collector Randy Guijarro came across an old black and white photo while visiting an antique sale. He had no idea if the picture was worth anything, but it was obviously old, so he decided it was worth the $2 price tag.
Guijarro did not realize it at the time, but his $2 investment scored him one of the worlds rarest photographs believed to be worth millions. At first glance, the photo is of a group of people enjoying an afternoon by playing croquet on the lawn. When Guijarro had the photo authenticated, he was surprised to find out that those croquet players were none other than the outlaw Billy the Kid and his notorious gang of Regulators.
The photo was proven to be taken in 1878 and is only the second photo of its kind to feature the outlaw and the only one to depict his gang. It may seem strange to think of a group of murderous bandits playing a game as genteel as croquet, but the pastime was actually quite popular in the years following the Civil War.
In 2011, another photo of Billy the Kid dating back to 1880 fetched the tidy sum of $2.3 million. Experts believe that Guijarros photo could bring as much as $5 million. Needless to say, Guijarro is thankful that he trusted his instincts.
Randy Guijarro, from Fremont, California, purchased 2 old images of the Wild West in 2010, providing 2 dollars to purchase them. Just years later on would he discover that his picture represents the well known renowned Far West, Billy the Kid, in what is thought to be simply his 2nd validated image!
Billy has fun with his gang, the well-known “Regulators”, a batch of croquet in New Mexico in 1878. A business handling historic treasures, Kagin’s, initially verified the credibility of the picture, which was protected versus the quantity of 5 million dollars.
The image, called “Croquet Tintype,” is among the 2 verified frames that include the well-known Billy de Kid. His very first image was offered to billionaire William Koch in 2011 for $ 2.3 million.
Randy’s discovery will quickly discover its method to an auction when it breaks down a minimum of the argument about whether it’s truly genuine or not. “When we saw the image, we were reasonably hesitant, a genuine Billy de Kid picture is the Holy Grail of the Wild West,” stated David McCarthy, a Kagin’s specialist at that time in the New york city Post, including that the image is still being examined by a group of professionals.
The credibility of the image is now thoroughly provided in an appropriate documentary by National Geographic (“Billy The Kid: New Proof”), according to which numerous are still not encouraged.
Whatever takes place, Randy wishes to make it clear that you never ever understand what you’re going to discover occasionally: “I hope this will make others explode chests and lofts due to the fact that there are a lot of treasures losers out there,” he stated in the “Guardian” …
Jeff Aiello, among the manufacturers of the National Geographic unique airing this weekend, stated that the Koch sale developed issues for Guijarro nevertheless as everybody all of a sudden believed they had a picture of Billy the Kid, and the couple of people depended validate these tintypes fasted to shoot them all down – consisting of Guijarro’s photo.