Whenever I find myself in a junk store or antique shop, I seek out the inevitable basket of old photographs. There I rummage around and occasionally shell out a dollar or two for any old photos that catch my eye. The best find I’ve ever had is a 19th century portrait by French photographer Nadar. I figure my two-dollar investment is worth at least ten bucks. That return on investment pales in comparison to what Randy Guijarro is going to get for the photograph he recently found in a Fresno junk shop. Guijarro forked over $2 to buy a lot which contained a 4×5-inch tintype photograph that, upon further review, contains the image of one William Henry McCarty Jr. Why is McCarty’s image worth so much? Because he’s better known as the infamous outlaw Billy the Kid. There is only one other known photo of the Kid, and it sold for $2.3 million five years ago. The moral of the story: always look through the bin of cheap old photos in the antique shop! See the whole picture—a view of Billy and his gang playing croquet in 1878—at http://nypost.com/2015/10/13/this-billy-the-kid-photo-bought-for-2-is-worth-5-million/
