http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/nation/7216787.htm
Gun that killed outlaw Jesse James to be auctioned
BY GREG HARDESTY
The Orange County Register
ORANGE, Calif. - (KRT) - The Smith & Wesson is well used, banged up - kind of ugly, actually.
The nickel finish on the single-action revolver, made around 1875, is pitted and eroded, the hard-rubber grip badly chipped from being dropped.
But as Newport Beach, Calif., gun collector Ron Herrick put it, "It's how a gun was used that makes it desirable."
And this particular .44-caliber pistol purportedly was used to kill none other than the outlaw Jesse James.
When the gun is auctioned off this weekend in Anaheim, it could set a record for a Western historic firearm, experts say.
"The James gun is really something," said Anaheim's John Robinson, one of Orange County's top collectors of guns from the Old West. "It will set a standard."
The Jesse James gun could fetch $300,000 - smashing a record $240,000 paid in 1998 for a pistol used by outlaw "Blackjack" Ketchum, said John R. Gangel, president of auction organizer Little John's Antique Arms Inc. in Orange, Calif.
"All of the big-money collectors would love to have it," said Sybil Montana, a Springfield, Mo., author who wrote about James' death.
Gangel acquired the gun about six months ago from a collector who bought it for $160,000 at an auction in England in 1993.
The revolver is one of many prized possessions inside Gangel's offices, which contain between $10 million and $20 million in inventory.
"I collect not because these are guns, but because they are history," Gangel said.
Bob Ford, a recent recruit to James' gang of bank, train and stagecoach robbers, killed Jesse James on April 3, 1882, in St. Joseph, Mo.
Ford fired once into the back of James' head as James straightened a picture while standing on a chair in his living room.
The outlaw, 35, had just finished breakfast with his wife and two children. His guns were on his bed. His 7-year-old son found the body.
James spent 16 of his years as an outlaw, gaining a romanticized reputation as a revenge-minded family man who took on railroads for the benefit of the common folk.
Although some scholars have since come to dismiss James as a ruthless, pro-slavery killer who kept all of his ill-gotten gains for himself, his name remains as instantly recognizable today as the etching on the pistol that killed him.
That etching reads, "Bob Ford killed Jesse James with this revolver at St. Joseph, Mo., 1882."
Ford conspired with his brother, Charlie, a fellow gang member, to kill James. Railroads and politicians put up $10,000 for the hit, although the Ford brothers ended up with only part of the money.
Bob Ford said in the months after the killing that he used a .45-caliber Colt revolver to kill Jesse James - not a .44-caliber Smith & Wesson, according to Montana, author of "Bob Ford Was His Name - Jesse James Was His Game."
"No one knows for sure," Montana said. "But Bob just might have been lying."
Retired Orange County Superior Court Judge James R. Ross, 77, the purported great-grandson of Jesse James who wrote the 1989 book "I, Jesse James," believes the gun being auctioned may not be genuine.
Ross thinks Ford used the Colt.
The former jurist has made waves before for Little John's. At last year's auction, he questioned whether a gun used by James to kill a lawman was the real deal.
Gangel, who is a respected figure in the gun-collecting universe, had Ross escorted out of the room.
Gangel said the items he sells come with extensive documentation about their origins, or "provenance." And the Jesse James gun comes with an unbroken provenance.
Documentation includes a sworn affidavit dated February 1904 that says James gave the gun to Ford days before the shooting, he said. For a while in the 1960s, the gun's whereabouts were unknown after it was stolen from a museum.
A tall, burly man with an encyclopedic knowledge of antique weapons, Gangel uses a poker table from the early 1900s for business meetings. He keeps items he never will sell in two safes, including guns used by former Texas Rangers.
Gangel leans forward and speaks eagerly when asked about the history of his guns.
"I suppose people think the same thing about paintings as I do about guns," said Gangel, wearing a shirt with a pistol pattern. "It's all in the eye of the beholder."
Enduring interest in Jesse James does not surprise Ross.
"People hate to give up a hero," he said.
---
The gun auction will be held Sunday and Monday in Anaheim, Calif. Roughly 2,000 people are expected to be bidding in person and by phone.
Total auction sales could reach a record $10 million. This year's auction includes the collections of publishing magnate Robert Petersen, actor Robert Stack, Barry Goldwater Sr. and Michael Wayne, son of John Wayne.
Gun that killed outlaw Jesse James to be auctioned
BY GREG HARDESTY
The Orange County Register
ORANGE, Calif. - (KRT) - The Smith & Wesson is well used, banged up - kind of ugly, actually.
The nickel finish on the single-action revolver, made around 1875, is pitted and eroded, the hard-rubber grip badly chipped from being dropped.
But as Newport Beach, Calif., gun collector Ron Herrick put it, "It's how a gun was used that makes it desirable."
And this particular .44-caliber pistol purportedly was used to kill none other than the outlaw Jesse James.
When the gun is auctioned off this weekend in Anaheim, it could set a record for a Western historic firearm, experts say.
"The James gun is really something," said Anaheim's John Robinson, one of Orange County's top collectors of guns from the Old West. "It will set a standard."
The Jesse James gun could fetch $300,000 - smashing a record $240,000 paid in 1998 for a pistol used by outlaw "Blackjack" Ketchum, said John R. Gangel, president of auction organizer Little John's Antique Arms Inc. in Orange, Calif.
"All of the big-money collectors would love to have it," said Sybil Montana, a Springfield, Mo., author who wrote about James' death.
Gangel acquired the gun about six months ago from a collector who bought it for $160,000 at an auction in England in 1993.
The revolver is one of many prized possessions inside Gangel's offices, which contain between $10 million and $20 million in inventory.
"I collect not because these are guns, but because they are history," Gangel said.
Bob Ford, a recent recruit to James' gang of bank, train and stagecoach robbers, killed Jesse James on April 3, 1882, in St. Joseph, Mo.
Ford fired once into the back of James' head as James straightened a picture while standing on a chair in his living room.
The outlaw, 35, had just finished breakfast with his wife and two children. His guns were on his bed. His 7-year-old son found the body.
James spent 16 of his years as an outlaw, gaining a romanticized reputation as a revenge-minded family man who took on railroads for the benefit of the common folk.
Although some scholars have since come to dismiss James as a ruthless, pro-slavery killer who kept all of his ill-gotten gains for himself, his name remains as instantly recognizable today as the etching on the pistol that killed him.
That etching reads, "Bob Ford killed Jesse James with this revolver at St. Joseph, Mo., 1882."
Ford conspired with his brother, Charlie, a fellow gang member, to kill James. Railroads and politicians put up $10,000 for the hit, although the Ford brothers ended up with only part of the money.
Bob Ford said in the months after the killing that he used a .45-caliber Colt revolver to kill Jesse James - not a .44-caliber Smith & Wesson, according to Montana, author of "Bob Ford Was His Name - Jesse James Was His Game."
"No one knows for sure," Montana said. "But Bob just might have been lying."
Retired Orange County Superior Court Judge James R. Ross, 77, the purported great-grandson of Jesse James who wrote the 1989 book "I, Jesse James," believes the gun being auctioned may not be genuine.
Ross thinks Ford used the Colt.
The former jurist has made waves before for Little John's. At last year's auction, he questioned whether a gun used by James to kill a lawman was the real deal.
Gangel, who is a respected figure in the gun-collecting universe, had Ross escorted out of the room.
Gangel said the items he sells come with extensive documentation about their origins, or "provenance." And the Jesse James gun comes with an unbroken provenance.
Documentation includes a sworn affidavit dated February 1904 that says James gave the gun to Ford days before the shooting, he said. For a while in the 1960s, the gun's whereabouts were unknown after it was stolen from a museum.
A tall, burly man with an encyclopedic knowledge of antique weapons, Gangel uses a poker table from the early 1900s for business meetings. He keeps items he never will sell in two safes, including guns used by former Texas Rangers.
Gangel leans forward and speaks eagerly when asked about the history of his guns.
"I suppose people think the same thing about paintings as I do about guns," said Gangel, wearing a shirt with a pistol pattern. "It's all in the eye of the beholder."
Enduring interest in Jesse James does not surprise Ross.
"People hate to give up a hero," he said.
---
The gun auction will be held Sunday and Monday in Anaheim, Calif. Roughly 2,000 people are expected to be bidding in person and by phone.
Total auction sales could reach a record $10 million. This year's auction includes the collections of publishing magnate Robert Petersen, actor Robert Stack, Barry Goldwater Sr. and Michael Wayne, son of John Wayne.
