Historic Auction - Pancho Villa's guns

[ZeSpectre]

I thought this was pretty neat...
http://www.news8austin.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=194994

Two of Pancho Villa's guns up for auction
11/8/2007 5:00 AM
By: News 8 Austin Staff


Pancho Villa's pistol. An rifle engraved with his real name, Doreteo Arango, is also up for auction.
Many see Pancho Villa as an infamous bandit; some view him as a revolutionary hero. All agree that the folk hero of the 1910 Mexican Revolution was always heavily armed.

Now two of those firearms, and one that belonged to frontierswoman "Calamity Jane," go up for bidding in an auction scheduled to start Saturday in Fredericksburg. The items up for auction will go on public display on Friday.

Auction manager Tom Burks is a former curator of the Texas Ranger Museum in Waco. He says Villa "always carried a gun to the day of his death, and he didn't care what it was."

But one of them is a real beauty - a Remington single-action handgun engraved with a scroll pattern. It'll clearly be the star of the auction since it has Villa's real name, "Doreteo Arango," engraved on one side of the barrel.

Burks said the gun model dates to 1875. Also available is a Mauser carbine rifle that Villa reportedly dropped in the Rio Grande during a skirmish with opposition forces.

nother gun up for auction is a pocket pistol stored in a leather case bearing the name "Martha Jane Cannary." That's the alias for "Calamity Jane."

In all, about 1,000 Old West items will be up for auction. Featured items include a King Ranch saddle, solid silver pair of Bohlin spurs, spurs by other important makers such as McChesney, Kelly, Crockett and Tom Johnson and a rare authentic Colt single action leather holster.

The auction is on Nov. 10 and 11 at 10 a.m. with inspection from 8 a.m. until start of sale each day. Preview for the general public is on Nov. 9 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Bids can be placed by phone, online or via live video display online.