Bonnie and Clyde's guns

[effengee]

Bonnie and Clyde... Two names that forever will be synonymous with love and firearms.

Two of their guns sold recently at an auction over in Amherst NH, for a bit over $500,000. Quite a haul for a pair of old Colt's. Hers is a Colt Police Special snub-nosed .38, his is a Government 1911 .45 acp.
If not for the historical connection, neither of these handguns would fetch more than two thousand dollars on a great day.
It may seem crazy to spend that kind of money just to have bragging rights, but far be it from me to judge a fellow gun-nut's tastes.
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If I had 500k to blow on firearms, I can think of lots of guns to add to my collection that would be tons more fun than a .38 snubby that had been taped to the leg of a bad girl. Wait, when put that way...

 

[TAKtical]

Wow

 

[carbine85]

To the collector with expendable cash and the provenance these firearms have I'll bet they are worth every penny. They belonged to some of the most famous outlaws in history.

 

[T.R.]

To my view Bonnie & Clyde are tied to words such as cop killers, bandits, outlaws, armed robbers, and theiving scum. I'm glad they were shot to death by law enforcement.

That's a lot of money for steel and walnut. If I had that kind of money laying around, I take all my friends on a guided hunt for elk in the Rocky Mts.

TR

 

[TrueTexan]

Still not the most expensive Colts. A Walker Colt sold in 2008 for $920,000. Think how many 1911s that could buy.

 

[Slamfire]

The original Bonny and Clyde were a couple of psychopathic killers who got a lot of media attention at the time, and of course had one movie written about them later.

I believe the prices reflect the culture of celebrity and the power of mass media. The class of 64 was born after the original Bonne and Clyde died, they have made their money, they are sitting around in their old age, remembering Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway in that 1967 movie which was all about passion and rebellion, made in an draft dodging era full of passion, rebellion, and hippies, and they want to own something to remember their youth.

Well, you can't buy back your youth.

 

[SouthernYankee]

T.R., are you looking to expand your friend list? Pre-Trip of course!

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

While I don't care to own firearms used by those turds at most any price - I'd have liked to have gotten my hands on a couple of the Captain Frank Hammer customized guns used in their take-down when they sold a couple years back.

 

[Owen Sparks]

I wonder how much the guns used by modern killers like James Holmes, the "Batman shooter" will be worth in 100 years?

 

[Cosmoline]

To my view Bonnie & Clyde are tied to words such as cop killers, bandits, outlaws, armed robbers, and theiving scum. I'm glad they were shot to death by law enforcement.

Ditto on that. There was a ridiculous movie with Warren Beatty that revamped Clyde from a psychopathic monster into some kind of GQ cover model. Most people are thinking of that nonsense when they think of the Barrow Gang.

But in fairness, for better or worse that bunch of outlaws have come to embody the 30's bandit era of American criminal history. It was an important time, to be sure. Whether or not the gangs ever posed half as much threat as the papers claimed, they were used to help revive federal criminal law enforcement in the 30's and made way for the FBI and the alphabet soup of feds that emerged after repeal of Prohibition. Though historically Dillinger was probably more important, B&C have the sex appeal.

 

[oneounceload]

If I had 500k to blow on firearms,

You'd be doing something similar. Someone who has that kind of discretionary income doesn't care about quantity, they want the rare, unique item. You can bet this person doesn't decorate their home with "art work" from Target either