Wyatt Earp, Bob Dalton and Kit Carson arms on
offer

Auctioneers Bonhams & Butterfields bring Antique Arms and
Armor, Modern Sporting Guns, Edged Weapons and Militaria to
auction in San Francisco on Wednesday, June 29, 2005 with several
incredible, historically-important pistols carried by famous
and nefarious Americans.

A
sale highlight expected to interest collectors and institutions
is an historic factory-engraved Colt single action Army revolver
carried by “highwayman” Bob Dalton when he was killed
at the Coffeyville Raid of 1892. According to historical records
and several books on the Dalton Gang, described as one of the
last prolific bands of frontier outlaws prowling the West in
the 19th century, Bob Dalton intended to one-up Jesse James
by conducting a two-bank heist in the sleepy Kansas town of
Coffeyville. The Daltons hailed from that part of the country
and reportedly, one of the disguised gang members was recognized
as they prepared to enter one of the banks. Townspeople, enraged
that their banks were to be cleaned out, formed a vigilante
group and alongside lawmen shot and killed all of the Dalton
Gang but one. Many townspeople also died during that early October
1892 shootout. The pistol on offer this month is Dalton’s
.45 caliber Colt with mother-of-pearl grips and factory engraved
scrollwork. Estimated at $100,000 to $150,000, it was most likely
specially ordered by the Daltons specifically for the bank robbery
in Coffeyville. Proceeds from the sale of the gun are to be
donated to charity.

Another
historic firearm on offer is an engraved Merwin Hulbert revolver
belonging to Wyatt Earp. This gun, according to a January 17,
1929 story in the Tombstone Epitaph, was Earp’s favorite
six-shooter and the gun he carried most often during his Dodge
City days and while serving in Arizona as Deputy U.S. Marshall.
The pistol is offered with documentation including several letters
and photographs. The lawman’s nickel-plated, ivory-handled
firearm could bring as much as $80,000.

Another pistol to be sold also has ties to criminal activity,
this being a Colt Bisley revolver once owned by “Little”
Bill Raidler, another outlaw roaming the West in search of ill-gotten
gains in the 1880s and ‘90s. Raidler joined the Wild Bunch
gang in 1893 and had been shot, apprehended and imprisoned by
1895. His Colt is estimated at $2,000 to $3,000.

The June auction features more than 200 lots of handguns —
many derringers, percussion pistols, semi-automatics and single
action revolvers. Several others have notable lineage, such
as a rare Gustave Young engraved and silver-plated Smith &
Wesson first model double action revolver called “The Persian
Special.” It features a finely engraved six-inch barrel,
mother-of-pear grips and a gold shield-shaped escutcheon (est.
$20/30,000). A .38 caliber Webley Fosbery Model 1902 semi automatic
revolver is considered scarce, manufactured in London (est.
$8/10,000).

Sporting guns have been a focal point within Bonhams &
Butterfields’ recent antique arms sales, strong prices
seen for cased and custom examples. An ornate cased .470 Nitro
E xpress Marcel boxlock ejector double rifle features gold inlay
of a lion and a leopard on opposing sides of the action, as
well as an inlaid Cape buffalo and gold scrollwork engraving
(est. $20/25,000). A series of 12-gauge Perazzi shotguns are
being offered, several featuring multiple barrel sets, each
in the $10,000 to $16,000 range. Browning, Purdey, Cogswell
& Harrison and Holland & Holland rifles, as well as
a 12-gauge Henry Atkin self-opening sidelock ejector double
barrel shotgun (est. $20/25,000) should interest sportsmen.
A cased Winchester Model 21 skeet grade double barrel shotgun
was once owned by the noted outdoorsman and writer Jack O’Connor
(est. $6/8,000). O’Connor wrote more than 25 books and
was a staff reporter at Outdoor Life for three decades. His
rifle bears his monogram, with “JO’C” in gold
on the butt.

June’s sale takes a turn back to the 16th and 17th centuries
as the Armor section opens. A full suit of 16th century armor
includes a helmet, breastplate with tassets, backplate, arms
and leg defenses, et al (est. $2/3,000). Edged weapons are of
interest with a nice selection featuring early Middle Eastern
and Persian weapons along with examples from Java and Turkey,
Japan and India, among others. A rare Viking sword, probably
circa 800-950 A.D, .is 30-inches in length, double edged, with
inlays of gold-colored metal (est. $4/6,000). An Italian sword,
possibly Venetician, circa 1520, features a 36-inch double-edged
blade with a fluted ricasso and an onion-shaped pommel (est.
$10/20,000). An interesting lot is an historic 36-inch curved
blade dragoon saber captured by Kit Carson at the Battle of
Valverde offered with tintype photos, letters and a lock of
hair from one of the previous owners, a Captain Colliver. The
lot comes with a handwritten letter describing in dramatic detail
the circumstance of how Carson came to take possession of the
weapon (est. $10/20,000).

Additional lots include knives and presentation swords, daggers,
military badges, medals and insignia, as well as a fine incised
French & American War era powder horn attributed to the
prolific but unidentified “Pointed Tree” carver. The
12-inch horn displays wonderful depictions of ships at sea,
coats-of-arms, a hunter with hounds, a leaping stag, doe and
a rabbit — in red and black polychrome shading (est. $5/7,000).

For more details visit the Bonhams
web site.