A California man bought an old photo for $2 and a song at a junk store. Five years later, it was valued at $5 million

The story was featured in the documentary Billy the Kid: New Evidence and recently resurfaced in People magazine.

Later, as Guijarro more closely examined his purchases, he saw a face that looked semi-familiar in one of them. It took five years to verify, but that familiar face turned out to be Henry McCarty, better known as Billy the Kid. And the photo Guijarro had stumbled upon was only the second authenticated picture of the notorious outlaw.

“When I got to the guy wearing the hat, I went, ‘Wow, he’s really familiar, what’s up?” he told National Geographic in 2015. “I’m familiar with Billy the Kid, so I knew who he was and what he looked like. I really looked hard and said, ‘Man, this is Billy the Kid, I can’t believe it!’ To me it was striking — the way he was standing, the hat, everything.”

Verifying a hunch

The first authenticated photo of Billy the Kid had hit the open market not long before, in 2011. That shot captured Billy the Kid in a more serious pose, with a Winchester carbine rifle in one hand and a single-action Colt pistol on his hip. Business tycoon William Koch bought it for $2.3 million that year in an auction.

Knowing the potential value of the picture, Guijarro and his wife brought it to Americana company Kagin’s, which began efforts to verify the shot of the man leaning on a croquet mallet in a cardigan sweater and unusual hat was, in fact, Billy the Kid.

It took five years, a lot of poring through historical records and a field trip to New Mexico, but researchers were able to determine it was the real deal.

The shot, it turns out, was taken just a short distance from the home of John Tunstall, who Billy considered his mentor and who was also a croquet enthusiast. The shot was dated to 1878 and researchers determined that between their violent crime sprees, Billy the Kid and his gang liked to play croquet as well.

Four of the other people in the picture were members of the gang Billy rode with.

Photo appraised for record price

Kagin’s, ultimately, appraised and insured the picture at $5 million. The company, in 2015, was reported to be brokering the sale of the image, but there’s no record of any sale ever being completed.

As for Guijarro, right before the picture was authenticated and appraised, according to LinkedIn, quit his job as a telecommunications worker. Today, he lists himself as the owner of Authentic History, a research and investigation firm looking into the legends, folklore and reality of moments in world history.