page_title: Wyatt Earp in popular culture
section_title: Personal weapons
hierarchical_section_title: Wyatt Earp in popular culture / Property auction / Personal weapons
caption_attribution_description: English: Second generation Colt Single Action Army
context_page_description: Wyatt Earp was an American Old West lawman and gambler in Cochise County, Arizona Territory, and a deputy marshal in Tombstone, Arizona Territory.
  When alive, he had a notorious reputation for both his handling of the Fitzsimmons vs. Sharkey fight and his role in the O.K. Corral gunfight. This only began to change after his death when the extremely flattering biography Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal was published in 1931. It became a bestseller and created his reputation as a fearless lawman. Since then, Earp has been the subject of numerous films, television shows, biographies, and works of fiction which have increased both his fame and his notoriety. Long after his death, he has many devoted detractors and admirers. His modern-day reputation is that of the Old West's toughest and deadliest gunman of his day.
  When a post office was established in 1930 in the unincorporated settlement of Drennan, near the site of some of his mining claims, it was renamed Earp, California in his honor. In 2002, a plaque was erected at the site of the Earp's cottage in Vidal, California, noting that the cottage was the only home they owned in the time they were married.
context_section_description: On April 17, 2014, the family of deceased Earp amateur historian Glenn Boyer put much of his Earp collection and many artifacts up for auction. Among the 32 boxes of documentation, files, pictures and memorabilia for sale was a Colt .45 caliber said by Earp descendants to have been owned by Wyatt Earp. Also included in the auction was a Winchester lever-action shotgun belonging to Wyatt Earp.
  Earp was known to carry a .45 caliber revolver, as he did on the night of the Fitzimmons-Sharkey fight in 1896. Historians have credible evidence that Wyatt used a .44 caliber 1869 American model Smith & Wesson during the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. This weapon was given by Earp to John Flood, who left it to Earp historian John D. Gilchriese.
  Descendants of Wyatt Earp's cousins assert that Earp carried the revolver featured in the auction and while in Tombstone, although the grips, barrel, and cylinder have been replaced. Only the frame is original, and its serial number has been filed off. However, X-ray testing showed an original serial number, 5686, which matches a batch of revolvers purchased by the U.S. Army in 1874.
  The history of the items is controversial, because they belonged to Boyer. John Boessenecker, a respected author of numerous articles on the American Old West and a collector of American Old West guns and memorabilia, said that it would be "impossible to separate the authenticity of the auction items from Boyer's own troubled history." This is particularly true, because the provenance of the weapons is based on letters written by or given to Boyer. The authenticity of the revolver displayed at the auction is attested to by a typewritten letter dictated by Bill Miller to his daughter LaVonne Griffin. Miller was married to Estelle Edwards, the daughter of Adelia Earp Edwards, Wyatt's sister. Before his death, Boyer completed a sworn affidavit attesting that the Colt .45 belonged to Earp. The affidavit is included with the revolver, along with other expert findings. Critics challenge the authenticity of the letter because Boyer signed an affidavit in 1994 and stated again in 1999, long after Bill Miller's death, that he did not have any documentation from Miller. LeRoy Merz, the owner of Merz Antique Firearms, is the nation's largest dealer in antique Winchesters in the United States. Despite Boyer's affidavit, he said the missing serial number is a "kiss of death." He says, "No serious collector will want that."
  The Wyatt revolver from Boyer's estate was expected to fetch from $100,000 and $150,000. On the day of the auction, more than 6,400 online bidders and over 400 collectors from 49 countries took part in the auction. The revolver attributed to Wyatt Earp was sold to an unnamed phone bidder from New Mexico for $225,000. The Winchester lever-action shotgun also said to be Wyatt Earp's sold for $50,000, below the high value estimate of $125,000.
  During the Earp Vendetta Ride Earp borrowed a short, 22-inch, 10 gauge, double barrel percussion shotgun from Fred Dodge. He used it to kill Curly Bill Brocius. Dodge used the shotgun throughout his 40-year career and the gun was also registered to U.S. Marshal Heck Thomas. It passed through several owners. It was last sold in February, 2020, for $375,000.00.
caption: Colt .45 single-action revolver like that owned by Wyatt Earp.
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