Bonnie and Clyde Guns Up For U.S. Auction

Concealed handguns carried by infamous outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow when they were fatally ambushed in Louisiana in 1934 are coming up for auction in New England.

Parker's Colt Detective Special .38 revolver and Barrow's Colt Model 1911 Government Model semi-automatic pistol are the marquee items going on the block at RR Auction's sale on September 30 in Nashua, New Hampshire.

"Anything that comes from the May 23, 1934 ambush is extremely valuable and rare," RR Auction's vice president of sales and marketing Bobby Livingstone told Agence France Presse by telephone on Friday.

Bonnie and Clyde, as the twenty-something duo are still known in popular culture, crisscrossed the central United States in the early years of the Great Depression, staging hold-ups and killing several law enforcers.

But these two handguns are special, Livingstone said, for having been removed literally from their dead bodies. Parker had used medical tape to strap her "squat gun" to her thigh; Barrow tucked his under his waistband.

Both pistols were taken from the scene of the ambush in Bienville Parish, northwest Louisiana, by Texas lawman Frank Hamer as part of the bounty he was promised for leading the six-man posse that hunted down the pair.

Notarized letters from Hamer accompany the guns, attesting to their origin.

Also up for auction on September 30 -- with online bids accepted from September 23 -- are Parker's cosmetic case, Barrow's gold Elgin pocket watch, and two other Colt revolvers belonging to Barrow.

In addition, RR Auction is selling a Colt .25 Pocket Auto pistol once belonging to Al Capone and a musical manuscript signed by the Chicago mobster -- and dedicated to a Jesuit priest -- when he was in Alcatraz prison.