The man who stumbled onto a stunning image of Billy the Kid playing croquet advises to look around.
“I hope this inspires others to delve into trunks and attics in search of lost gems,” Randy Guijarro said to the Guardian on Monday.
a 45-inch-long photograph of Billy the Kid playing croquet from 1878.
Originally only worth $2, a photograph of Billy the Kid playing croquet that was discovered at a thrift shop has now sold for millions of dollars.
In 2010, Guijarro spent $2 for three four by five-inch tintypes from a Fresno, California, antique store. Valued at many million dollars now.
The telecommunications expert and his wife Linda have stated that they want to use some of the money from their unexpected discoveries to finance more exploratory efforts.
We could gain by getting a new automobile.
We want to investigate neglected historical occurrences both domestically and abroad.
We like exploring the world together. The chase is an amazing spectacle.
Billy the Kid, a Wild West legend, was the man leaning on the mallet, and the other people in the picture were members of his gang, the Regulators, playing croquet in New Mexico in 1878, he learned after looking at the photo under a microscope at home.
Only the second authenticated image of the offender has ever been captured; it is worth at $5 million.
A Kevin Costner-hosted National Geographic program that detailed the five years of research and investigation into its truth was aired on Sunday.
It was just amazing. “It was incredibly difficult for us to observe that,” said 54-year-old Guijarro. We hope the voyage was delightful since we have been completely upfront and honest with you.
He continued by saying that the investigation was hindered by false leads and distrust, leaving the two uneasy and unsure of whom to believe.
There are both joyful and sad times. It had been a protracted and lonely journey. The picture resembled something out of The Twilight Zone. There is no question—too wonderful to be true.
The name “Billy the Kid” immediately brings to mind images of the Wild West and the iconic New Yorker who, after a harsh but brief career as an outlaw, was shot by Pat Garrett, the sheriff of Lincoln County, at the age of 21.
However, some historians claim that he was only responsible for nine homicides. The sole remaining portrait of him, which depicts him resting with a rifle around the year 1880, sold in 2011 for $2.3 million (£1.5 million).
Guijarro has spent the most of his life amassing various artifacts, including coins, sports cards, comic books, and antique pictures, together with his wife, who shares his enthusiasm for collecting.
He saw Fulton’s Folly Antique Collective while wandering in Fresno’s Tower district on his way home from work one late summer night in 2010.
Guijarro was instructed to approach two men carrying “junk crates,” who, according to the vendor, were trying to empty and dispose of the contents of a storage facility.
He put out a $2 suggestion and selected three pictures, some of which showed croquet players and other historical scenes. They used force to take it.
Guijarro just vaguely remembers them. I can’t even remember who they were anymore since everything has gotten so fuzzy.
The croquet ball’s appearance thrilled him, but it took him a week of careful examination to recognize the legendary robber.
The statement came in reaction to the man’s attire, manner, and the fact that he was standing on a croquet stick: “You could hand him a Winchester rifle.” Wow, that’s Billy the Kid, I thought.
He calls the person hired to investigate the other Regulators, Linda, “a wonderful, smart woman.”
She was able to communicate with Charlie Bowdre and Tom O’Folliard, two other croquet players, thanks to the internet. “That was really fantastic,” stated Guijarro.
Thanks to the efforts of scholars, collectors, experts in facial recognition, and others, the ruins of the schoolhouse in Chavez County, New Mexico, were found. The 18 people in the image were all identified.
Little more than a month after the gang had participated in the deadly Lincoln County quarrel, the photo was discovered to have been shot shortly after a wedding in 1878.
The California-based numismatics company Kagin’s Inc., which is now searching for a private buyer, has insured it for $5 million.
Guijarro said, “We’re not counting our chickens before they hatch,” despite the interest.
After that, he and Linda want to buy a new automobile, settle debt, help a few close friends and family members, and start planning more treasure hunts.
He asserts that they virtually always sell the stuff they acquire, demonstrating that they are not hoarders. Hunting is necessary because if we didn’t, “we’d be sitting on a hundred acres of stuff else.”