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Hi, Jim. I will be polite and say that Dan had reservations about the "provenance". And yes--40k would be a low bid for the rifle allegedly used by Butch Cassidy in his death shootout. You'll also note it didn't sell through Sotheby's, Christie's or a major auction house like that. It sold through Proxbid. Dan's refusal to authenticate it would be why a major auction house would not offer it. As I said, you really need his blessing of authentication to pass muster when it comes to Butch Cassidy, and he'd never give it without iron clad provenance that can be shown with solid a chain of history from a credible source, which it did not have. For instance, I believe I own Etta Place's gold bracelet, but I only have some circumstantial evidence for that. Even though I'm a Butch Cassidy historian myself (far, far bellow Dan's level but I've made my contributions), my word wouldn't be anywhere near enough to authenticate it, and even though Dan's a friend of mine, he'd never authenticate it without solid provenance, which I don't have. So I'd have to put it on Proxbid or ebay myself if I ever wanted to sell it (I wouldn't) because I don't have his blessing. That's how it works when it comes to Butch Cassidy related stuff in the real world. Other stuff--like firearms in general--may not work that way, but when it comes to BC, it pretty much does.
BTW, not that it matters, but this wouldn't have been used by Butch in the shootout in all likelihood. More likely Sundance. Butch was likely using his Colt in the shootout, while SD was using a rifle of whatever sort, be it a Winchester or a Mauser
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