GUEST: So I brought a portion of my John Wesley Hardin collection, a cattle brand ledger from before he went on his long stint in Huntsville prison. After he got out of prison, he became, uh, an attorney, moved to El Paso. So I brought his El Paso business card, his, uh, autobiography that was published after his death, a playing card that he would shoot. I don't know if it was to get money or just to publicize himself. And then the death card that was taken after he was shot and killed in, uh, El Paso.
APPRAISER: John Wesley Hardin.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: (dramatically): "A man so mean, he once shot a man for snoring."
GUEST: Allegedly, yes.
APPRAISER: Yes.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: Why him?
GUEST: Having been in law enforcement, I think the Old West law enforcement and outlaw faction kind of interested me. And something-- he's intriguing. Something drew me to him. I just think this stuff is just fascinating.
APPRAISER: And how long did it take you to put this collection together?
GUEST: Uh, years, years.
APPRAISER: Years, yeah.
GUEST: Uh, and this is just, uh, a portion of my collection. And I thought it was the, some of the neatest stuff that really represented him.
APPRAISER: John Wesley Hardin is one of the most notorious outlaws of the Old West. He was a famous cattle rustler, and card player, or card cheat.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: Also worked a little bit as an attorney. Spent some time in prison.
GUEST: Exactly.
APPRAISER: And then met an untimely death.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: Not surprisingly.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: He was murdered in 1895. So we think of him as a cattle rustler, I think.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: Maybe first and foremost.
GUEST: Yup.
APPRAISER: So you brought this brand sheet.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: Which records the individual cattle brand and then the owner that's associated with each brand. And John Wesley Hardin has signed twice here, here, and then again at the bottom. This small piece that you mentioned is his business card.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: "Attorney at law"-- maybe the least famous part of his career.
GUEST: Yeah, right, very short-lived.
APPRAISER: And then maybe most famously as a gambler...
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: ...and a bit of a showman and a bit of a self-promoter.
GUEST: Yes, definitely.
APPRAISER: The playing card is signed, dated, and has three shots in it-- really terrific piece.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: And of course, the death card, too. No gunslinger reputation is complete without the morbid death card.
GUEST: Right, exactly, yes.
APPRAISER: Obviously, not signed. (chuckling): That's a facsimile signature with it.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: But we have the death card and the autobiography, which is really very much the source of his reputation.
GUEST: Exactly.
APPRAISER: Much of his self-generated publicity.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: Which is the way to do it, right?
GUEST: Yeah, absolutely.
APPRAISER: Can you tell me what you paid for the autobiography?
GUEST: I have five or six of them, all in different conditions. I think for this one, I probably paid maybe $200, 2, $225.
APPRAISER: How about the photograph?
GUEST: That I don't recall, I bought that so many years ago. I found it online and I just don't recall what I paid for it. Business card, I think I paid $444 for it.
APPRAISER: How about the branding sheet?
GUEST: I really, I don't remember that; the, uh, I remember the card.
APPRAISER: And what'd you pay for the card?
GUEST: The card, I paid a little over $2,000.
APPRAISER: Gunslingers are a popular collecting area.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: Texas is a co...
GUEST: Yes, exactly.
APPRAISER: There are certain regions in America that appeal to collectors beyond their borders.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: So that just the mythology of the area...
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: ...speaks to more than just the people who, who live there.
GUEST: Interesting, okay.
APPRAISER: And there are a lot of good recent auction records for him, so he's very hot.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: The autobiography is fairly rare. Supposedly, it was pulled from distribution.
GUEST: Exactly.
APPRAISER: But it's not a particularly expensive book. It, it, but you have a very nice copy. At auction, we would say, $500 to $700.
GUEST: Oh, wow, okay.
APPRAISER: The death card, also on the rare side.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: Yours, it's a bright image, but it's got some condition problems.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: It's been shellacked...
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: ...and the margins have been trimmed.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: So I would probably put this in the $700 to $900 range.
GUEST: Oh, okay.
APPRAISER: The business card, several examples of this have sold recently.
GUEST: Right. Yeah.
APPRAISER: They're in the $2,000 to $3,000 market. Uh, between the two of these, which do you think is most expensive?
GUEST: I think the card, I just... I, I think they're very rare and really hard to come by. But then again, this is signed twice, so it's, it's hard to say.
APPRAISER: But, you're right, the card is more.
GUEST: Okay, okay.
APPRAISER: The card is sexier, right?
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: It's sexier, more fun.
GUEST: Right, right.
APPRAISER: So the value of the signed brand would be between $4,000 and $6,000 at auction.
GUEST: Wow, okay.
APPRAISER: But, yeah, this is your star piece.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: It's so compelling and magnetic. If you average out the, the last three auction records, it's probably $15,000 to $20,000.
GUEST: Wow, okay, a lot more than I thought.
APPRAISER: Yeah.
GUEST: That's, that makes me happy, it's, uh, very, like you said, very intimate. He shot that card, he touched that card, he signed that card.
APPRAISER: He signed-- exactly.
GUEST: Right. I'm, I'm very, very happy, that's, uh... I just love this stuff.
