This Day in History

[Carruthers]

Further to my post #964...

Collector stopped from selling his £7 eBay picture of Jesse James for £2m after Christie's call in experts

When Justin Whiting discovered a photograph of Jesse James on eBay he thought he stood to make the kind of booty the legendary Wild West outlaw would have been proud of.

After buying the rare photograph of the 19th century bank robber for just £7 in July last year, two American experts told him it was genuine, making it worth as much as £2 million.

But Mr Whiting’s dreams of riding off into the sunset, his saddle bags full of gold, have now been shattered.

Christie’s auctioneers have refused to accept the 3.5 inches by 2.5 inches Victorian tintype photograph for sale, after concluding the man pictured was not in fact Jesse James at all.

It told Mr Whiting: “This photograph would not be suitable for a forthcoming auction with Christie’s.”

Justin Whiting's photo Jesse James (right) and an existing picture of the outlaw at a similar age.

The move came after a surviving descendant of James commissioned British expert Mark Bampton who, after closely examining the photograph, found there were too many facial differences for the person it it to be the outlaw.

Mr Bampton compared an existing picture of James at a similar age to the man in the new photograph, using linear analysis of the two images to establish any differences in facial features.

He found that, crucially, the young man in Mr Whiting’s photograph had a much thicker bottom lip than that of James, as well as a “much shorter neck”.

Mr Brampton also compared Mr Whiting’s photograph with another accepted one of James, and found marked differences between the position of the two men’s ears and eyes.

He concluded: “It is clear from my analysis that there are significant differences proving that Justin Whiting’s photograph is not an authentic one of Jesse James.”

Something of a disappointment to both Mr Whiting and historians.

Daily Telegraph

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May 19

1780 - It was a dark day for New England this day. No, really, it was dark.