Over on the Kovels antiques website, there's this interesting story, at the center of which is a single tintype photograph that sold for $2.3 million:
June 2011
This tintype photograph of outlaw and killer Billy the Kid sold for $2.3 million to a millionaire [sic, wrong by a factor of 1,000] who plans to enjoy owning it and lending it to a few museums for display. The picture is the only one known to be an authentic photo of Billy the Kid. It was probably taken in New Mexico.
Billy the Kid is said to have murdered at least 21 people and was sentenced to hang for the 1878 murder of a sheriff. He escaped and was killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett on July 14, 1881.
Tintypes made a mirror image, so the auctioned photo shows what seems to be a left-handed man (he wasn't). The picture was reportedly given to Dan Dedrick by Billy and has been in Dedrick's family ever since. The new owner, William Koch, is a member of a well-known family of billionaires who made money from oil and gas.
This Koch Brother isn't one of the Vile Two, but he's sufficiently loathsome in his own right. He revels in lawsuits for this (glorifying himself in a Smithsonian exhibition for which he paid) , lawsuits against that (windmills in Nantucket), and has been arrested at least once on a charge of domestic violence. He's reconciled with brother David Koch -- one of the Vile Two -- and recently gave a speech on entrepreneurship.
Yup, that's whom I'd go to to learn about running a startup or other entrepreneurial endeavor, a billionaire. He'd sure know the ropes. Go hang yourself.
You can see the $2.3 MILLION tintype here:
http://www.kovels.com/...