Western Art Sets Record with 2.4 Million Dollar Sale
June 2011, at Brian Lebel’s Old West Show and Sale, a record
price of 2.4 million dollars was set for an antique pre-1880 photograph of
Billy the Kid. I had the opportunity to
talk with Brian when he came to visit my gallery during the annual Santa Fe
Indian Market hoopla. The following is from
that interview:
M.S What do you think the world record sale of the Billy the
Kid photograph does for western art in general?
B.L. “This gives western
art a shot in the arm and world wide attention, phone calls have come in from all
over the world and we have received phone calls from Scottsdale, Ireland and
France.
M.S. I know, I read
about it in the Wall Street Journal the morning after the sale and while not
surprised it topped the million mark was happy to see the photograph bring such
an impressive number. What media
coverage have you gotten?
B.L. It’s been across the board CNN, Wall Street Journal,
Christian Science Monitor, NY Times, LA Times and even Fox television. I did one 5-minute interview for the BBC in
the middle of nowhere, Wagon Mound N.M.
If you know the area, its very remote and I found a high place near a
telephone tower and sat there for 5 minutes talking about the rare photo and
Billy the Kid. I had a highway patrol
officer watch me and wasn’t sure what I was going to say if he came up and
knocked on my window? Do I give him the one-minute
finger I’m finishing up my BBC interview?
It was all kind of surreal.
M.S So the photograph that sold was one of 4 images known to
be taken of The Kid, but is the only one that is known to have survived?
B.L. That’s correct this
is the only known surviving image and it had great provenance. There were 5 bidders on the piece up to the
first 1.2 million so there was serious interest and completion to own this
piece of American history.
MS So what’s been the fall out of such intense media
coverage?
B.L. It’s amazing how
many people think they have a great historic photograph and I have been inundated
with images. We have seen a few very interesting images which we plan on having
in our next June 23rd Auction in Denver 2012.
My own take on the general pulse of the Western and Native
American market is that great material continues to bring great prices. The hardest part in this business is still
finding those number 10’s out there, which are rare, and the Billy the Kid
photo proved that a ten could still bring record prices.
