A Colt pistol found on the dead body of outlaw Bonnie Parker has auctioned in the US.
It sold for $99,450 at Case Antiques' January 25th auction in Tennessee.
 More than 20,000 mourners attended Parker���s funeral |
An embalmer at Conger's Funeral Home in Arcadia, Louisiana found the .38 Model 1902 hidden among Parker's skirt.
He later gave the gun to a friend as a souvenir, and it had passed by descent to the consignor.
The 23-year-old fugitive, along with partner Clyde Barrow, had been ambushed and killed by six police officers in a shootout on a rural lane in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, in May, 1934.
It brought to an end two years of robberies and murders; the couple are estimated to have killed at least nine police officers and a number of civilians during their short lives.
The tale of the two murderous fugitives caught the public's imagination, and still does today.
Indeed, this is not the first Bonnie and Clyde firearm to come to auction.
Two guns discovered on the dead couple's bodies realised a combined $504,000 last year. They included a Colt Detective Special, found strapped to Parker's thigh, which made $264,000.
So why the lesser amount for the item in the present auction?
As growing numbers of Bonnie and Clyde-owned guns emerge on the market, collectors less and less willing to pay top price for what can no longer be classed a "unique collectible".
And don't dismiss the sex factor. A gun found strapped to Parker's thigh has more cachet with collectors than one discovered in her skirt.
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