Guy bought a can at an antique store for just $2 and the painting is now worth $5 million.

Seven years ago, antique collector Randy Guijarro first saw an old photograph covered in dust at a junk shop in Fresno, California. He purchased the photo for $2.
. When I zoomed in on the photo, I saw a seemingly familiar character, Billy the Kid. Guijarro also thought he recognized the child’s best friends Tom O’Foliard and Charlie Bodle in the photo.

After an arduous journey to verify the authenticity of the photos, it turns out that one of the people in the photos is actually the legendary outlaw Billy the Kid. So far, the photo below (which sold for $2.3 million) was thought to be the only picture of him.
Billy the Kid (William H. Bonney) is an almost mythical figure of the Old West. Born Henry McCarty in 1859 in New York City to Irish immigrants, he became an outlaw in New Mexico at age 16. According to legend, he killed 21 people, but other accounts put the number at about seven.

In July 1881, Billy the Kid was murdered at age 21 by Sheriff Pat Garrett. However, some legends state that he survived and went into hiding or retired.

Kagin’s, a company specializing in Western America and curiosities, spent more than a year researching the new photo and confirmed that it was indeed his second photo of the known Billy the Kid. We estimate its value at about US$5 million.

To confirm the authenticity of the photos, Kaggin looked beyond the facial similarities of each member. They also investigated this scenario. This scenario is believed to have taken place on a ranch in New Mexico owned by rancher John Tunstall. Tunstall hires Billy and the Regulators to fend off rivals in the Lawless West.

A close-up of the character Guiharro thinks is Billy the Kid. She puts on a top hat and bends over a croquet mallet. Although croquet was not a popular sport in the American West, it was popular in England at the time. Billy the Kid and his group of friends were believed to have been introduced to the game by Billy’s boss and mentor, an Englishman named John Tunstall.
At the end of 1877, then 17-year-old Billy the Kid murdered a man in Arizona working on various farms in New Mexico. Tunstall, an aspiring rancher, needed more muscle because he wanted to challenge the cattle monopoly held in Lincoln County by Irishmen Lawrence Murphy and Frank Dolan. While working at Tunstall, Billy befriended a gang later known as the Regulators.

Guijarro believes that the figures on horseback are newlyweds Charlie and Manuela Boudl. Charlie was one of Billy’s most trusted friends and a loyal member of the Regulatory Authority.

Guijarro believes the man on the left is Tom O’Foliard, one of the regulators and a close friend of Billy’s. On the right is the woman Guijarro believes to be Sally Chisholm, the niece of prominent rancher John Chisholm. Billy and his gang were hired to protect the Chisholm cattle from the Murphy Dolan gang and made regular visits to the Chisholm Ranch. Sally had a constant stream of suitors, and Billy was one of them.