Interesting old photo of good quality.

“A rare photo of 19th century notorious outlaw Billy the Kid has emerged on the market with a $1 million price-tag.

The previously unseen black and white image from 1877 shows the outlaw playing cards with his gang - it is only the second confirmed image of the wanted man.

In the photo, Billy the Kid, can be seen sitting around a table with three members of his gang - Richard Brewer, Fred Waite and Henry Brown - all of whom were wanted men.

The then-21-year-old is seen dressed in a white shirt, dark waistcoat and top hat…”

https://mol.im/a/7706121

Right-click, save as...ha... I have it for free!

quote:

Originally posted by Pyker:
Right-click, save as...ha... I have it for free!

That makes a total of four images, depending upon their authenticity. The first one, we all know about:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tZF3...00/Billy_the_Kid.jpg

The image is reversed (loading gate on the Winchester appears on the left side of the rifle). This is where all this "left-handed gun" stuff came from. The image is reversed, meaning that Bonney was wearing his pistol on his right side. Bonney was right-handed, as are most people.

Here's number two:

https://truewestmagazine.com/b...n-the-croquet-photo/

Here's number three:

https://www.usatoday.com/story...perts-say/891282001/

Number three, I don't know, but the others seem authentic.

Thanks for sharing, I havent heard about that one. I've always been interested in the clothing, hats and holsters from the 19th century and I'm always surprised at the variety of headwear at that time.

Thanks for posting these, guys. I had only ever seen the one iconic image of him standing with the rifle. Makes one wonder what other old photos are hidden away in a hat box in someone's attic or closet.

quote:

Originally posted by sigspecops:
Thanks for sharing, I havent heard about that one. I've always been interested in the clothing, hats and holsters from the 19th century and I'm always surprised at the variety of headwear at that time.

Kinda surprising once you start really digging into it, isn't it? I went down that rabbit hole with boots a few years ago. The number of styles of toe shapes and heel types and more was astounding. I mean, it was all hand made, so it makes sense. Suffice it to say, the imagery we all grew up on doesn't match the history.

Because of the lens systems of the old cameras that would reverse the image.

I did a quick clean up of the image to give a better look at Billy. And corrected the image flip.

I’m not a historian by any means. I never knew he was actually a righty and it was just an image flip. Until now, I bought the whole lefty thing. Learned something new today.

As for the photo...Emilio Estevez will always be Billy The Kid in my mind’s eye.

quote:

Originally posted by esdunbar:
I’m not a historian by any means. I never knew he was actually a righty and it was just an image flip. Until now, I bought the whole lefty thing. Learned something new today.

Myself as well. Thanks to both Para and Rainman for that. It's amazing what can be overlooked or misunderstood and get written into the history books. Fine example here. If the loading gate wasn't enough of a hint, now the gun belt buckle clasp looks correct with the flipped image.

Also, finally now paying attention to the rifle and his hands, I have just now noticed what looks like a gigantic ring on his left pinky finger. Is that what is?

Also, after looking carefully and trying to interpret, I think I had another misconception about him all my life. My mental recollection of that picture was that he was not only slope-shouldered, but also wide-hipped. When I was a kid growing up in El Paso and went on a field trip and visited the prison he broke into, my old man said "he was a dumpy, pear-shaped, murdering punk." The last part is probably true. The preceding... well, the closer I look at it and examine the posture looks like a trick of the exposure. He's leaning some weight of the rifle and settling his opposite hip out a bit. Swagger, some would say. I think his waist line on the rifle side ends probably fairly flush to the cartridges on his belt and he's wearing somewhat billowy pants. Billy was apparently noted as having sloped shoulders, but I never read anything about him being "dumpy" or anything other than a kid.

quote:

Originally posted by esdunbar:
As for the photo...Emilio Estevez will always be Billy The Kid in my mind’s eye.

And yet I see this meme and that expression and I hear in my head "I'll make you famous."

From Para's linked site. Interesting stuff.

LMS, thanks for that also. I was just starting to think he was wearing too many layers of clothes too big for him, the way modern thugs wear clothes far too big for them to make themselves look bigger and more menacing. Makes all the sense in the world, visually. Nice to see the "gambler's ring" confirmed.

Good thread.

I found it interesting that they are not sure what year he was born and not even sure what his given name was. Orphaned at 14. Pretty rough, short life.