Archive photos from Buffalo Bill`s show

Author:

Irene

24 jan 2014 11:00

A granddaughter of famous hunter and showman decided to realese photos for sale on auction in Ohio.

Rare photos of Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show taken during his legendary tour of Scotland over a century ago are to be sold at auction.
The showman and his team left the U.S. twice to visit Scotland - one of the photos shows Buffalo Bill and his real cowboys and cowgirls during their visit to Dundee in 1904.
The show, which wowed crowds with cowboys, horses and Native Indians, had a highly successful three month residency at a Glasgow showground in 1892, followed by a Scottish wide tour in 1904 when they travelled by train to 29 towns and cities across Scotland.

Buffalo Bill, whose real name was William F. Cody, was awarded the nickname after allegedly killing 4,280 buffalo over 18 months.
He founded the town of Cody in Wyoming and was one of the most colorful figures of the American Old West and known for the shows he organized with cowboy themes that extensively toured the US and Europe.
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West toured Europe eight times.

In June 1887 the show played a command performance in the UK for Queen Victoria's jubilee in front of royalty from all over the continent.
Now his family are selling photographs taken during his tour which was seen by at least 500,000 people.

Buffalo Bill's 1904 tour was really something,' said Matt Chapman, a specialist from the American history department at Cowan's auction house, where the photos are being sold in Cincinnati, Ohio.
'He brought a huge show with him to Scotland - 200 horses and 100 Indians. They even had their own train to move them around the country.

'The show itself was a re-enactment of the legend of the wild west. They'd have an attack on a stagecoach, a buffalo hunt.
'The Indians would attack a female and Buffalo Bill would rescue her.
'The tour was incredibly popular. We think at least 500,000 people would have seen it, which is even more remarkable when you think Scotland only had around four million people at that time. It was a huge show.'

The photos are some of the last items to be released for sale by Bill's great granddaughter.
The auction estimate for each of the seven Scottish photographs is $600-$800 (£360 - £480) but Mr Chapman believes they could achieve much more from Scottish collectors.
Mr Chapman added, 'We're expecting a lot of interest.
'We regularly get bids from the UK and I have already seen some bids on these items which are certainly from the UK and maybe from Scotland,' Mr Chapman added.