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Clipped signature is 1¼x5", matted and framed along with a reproduction of the famed portrait of Bonney standing with his rifle, and with a daguerreotype (with case) of a seated man, identified as "Original Photo of Billy the Kid." Overall 15½x27".

Signature of perhaps the most famous of all gunmen of the American West, of exceptional rarity, so elusive that comparable examples are difficult to find. The present example compares favorably to the few that we have been able to identify. It is from the estate of the late James "Buffalo Jim" Barrier, sports promoter and celebrated Las Vegas personality, whose personal collection at the time of his death in April of 2008 ranged from celebrity memorabilia and classic automobiles to key examples of Americana, such as the present autograph. Billy the Kid (1859-1881), born William McCarty but also known by the aliases Henry Antrim and William H. Bonney, is one of the more poignant, and elusive, of Western gunmen, with the legends of his life outweighing the known facts. He participated in the so-called Lincoln County War, and according to legend, he killed 21 men, one for each year of his life. The accompanying daguerreotype cannot be identified as Bonney, and indeed the well-dressed young man presents a different persona than one usually associates with Billy the Kid, though the facial features are not dissimilar to those of the few accepted photographs.