OUTLAW BILLY THE KID'S PIC SELLS FOR $2.6 MILLION

HE'S still one the World's best known outlaws more than 100 years since his violent death, but Billy The Kid remains one of the icons of the old west.
And now what is believed to the only surviving authenticated portrait of the gunfighter, who according to legend killed 21 men has sold for more than $2.3 million.
The tintype which went to private collector William Koch shows the outlaw dressed in a rumpled hat and layers of clothes, including a bulky sweater.  One hand rests on a Winchester carbine on his right side and a Colt revolver holstered on his left side.
Organizers at Brian Lebel's 22nd Annual Old West Show & Auction said the image was the most expensive piece ever sold at the event.

Tintypes were an early form of photography that used metal plates. They are reverse images, and the Billy the Kid tintype led to the mistaken belief that Billy the Kid was a lefty. 
Billy the Kid gave the image to a friend, Dan Dedrick, and the tintype has been owned by his descendants, the Upham family, ever since.

Auctuon spokeswoman Melissa McCracken said: "There's only one photo of Billy the Kid, and I think that's why it captivates people's imagination."