In a time when notorious gangsters ruled the land, they were perhaps the most famous. Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, better known as bank-robbing outlaws Bonnie and Clyde, broke out of rural dust bowl Dallas and embarked on a brief but infamous career of robberies, murder and police gunfights throughout the South and Midwest before being ambushed and killed by police in Louisiana.
Eighty years after they rose to fame, Bonnie and Clyde's guns and other personal effects are going up for auction in New Hampshire on Sept. 30. The RR Auction sale also includes memorabilia from public enemies including John Dillinger and Al Capone and lawmen Wyatt Earp and Eliot Ness.
They include the "squat" Colt .38 that Parker had taped to her inner thigh at the time of her death, as well as the Colt .45 that Barrow had in his waistband.
They include the "squat" Colt .38 that Parker had taped to her inner thigh at the time of her death, as well as the Colt .45 that Barrow had in his waistband, a Colt .45 that was also in the car and another .38 revolver belonging to Barrow that was found in a car he drove in 1930. Each gun is estimated to sell for between $100,000 and $200,000 each.
There's also Clyde's gold pocketwatch and Bonnie's leatherette makeup case, which after her death was found in the car with a lipstick, a box of Coty face powder and a powder puff, as well as a letter that Clyde wrote to his brother (signed with "bud," his alias and a series of letters from Blanche Barrow (Clyde's sister-in-law and also a member of the gang) to her mother during her stint in Missouri prison.
Frank Hamer, the Texas Ranger who planned their fatal shoot-out, was given Parker and Barrow's guns by the Louisiana police as payment for his services, and the collection for sale comes from the estate of Texas collector Robert E. Davis, who acquired Hamer's gun collection as well as other items.
