BOSTON — Weapons recovered at the scene where infamous criminals Bonnie and Clyde were killed in 1934 will be part of an auction that ends next week.
The “Old West, Outlaws, Lawmen, and Gangsters” sale, hosted by Boston-based RR Auction, will run through May 22. The auction includes 10 artifacts related to Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, who died in an ambush near Sailes, Louisiana, on May 23, 1934. Parker was 23 and Barrow was 25 when they were killed.
According to the FBI, the couple was believed to be responsible for 13 murders and several robberies and burglaries.
Items for sale include the couple’s Smith & Wesson Hand Ejector 2nd Model Revolver, which was recovered from the Ford “Death Car” that was riddled with bullets when authorities ambushed Parker and Barrow. According to a news release from RR Auction, the .44 caliber revolver was later gifted by Bienville Parish Sheriff Henderson Jordan to Bertram F. Barnette, a local attorney, senator in the Louisiana Legislature and owner of the Bienville Democrat newspaper.
A second item of interest was Parker’s Colt .25 “pocket automatic” pistol, which was removed from her purse after the ambush by Bienville Parish Deputy Sheriff Prentiss Oakley. The deputy gave the pistol to Jesse Orville Pinkston Sr., a county agriculture agent in Bienville Parish.
Pinkston’s grandson, Edwin S. Pinkston, consigned the weapon to RR Auction, the company said in its news release.
Other items include a handwritten letter from Barrow to his younger brother, Leon Clayborn “L.C.” Barrow; mug shots of Parker and Clyde Barrow; .38 caliber bullets recovered from their stolen vehicle; and a fingerprint file of Barrow’s older brother, Marvin “Buck” Barrow.
“They weren’t just outlaws -- they were icons of the Great Depression era,“ Bobby Livingston, RR Auction’s executive vice president, said in a statement. ”The public was obsessed with their every move. Items like Bonnie’s purse pistol or Clyde’s candid letter to his brother give us a raw, unfiltered view of life on the run.”
“Say how do you like our little home on the sea?”
— RR Auction (@RRAuction) May 6, 2025
Clyde Barrow sends a seaside snapshot—and a handwritten note—to his brother while on the run. The gangster equivalent of a vacation postcard.
Up for bid @RRAuction .
🔗https://t.co/ehQeJUINLm#BonnieAndClyde #TrueCrime… pic.twitter.com/3sz66CqSjv
The couple played a role in pop culture more than three decades after their deaths. A 1967 film, “Bonnie and Clyde,” starred Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty in the title roles. In 1968, Georgie Fame sang “The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde,” written by Mitch Murray and Peter Callander. The song peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 7, 1968.
Bidding for the Bonnie and Clyde artifacts has begun and will end on May 22.
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