Annie Oakley's Shotgun Gets $143,000

 Boston.com reports

A shotgun that once belonged to Western sharpshooter and entertainer Annie Oakley sold for more than $143,000 at an auction in Dallas on Sunday.

The trove of about 100 of the icon’s items headlining Heritage Auctions’ “Legends of the Wild West’’ event brought in nearly $520,000, according to the auction house.

The items included several guns, her Stetson hat, photographs and letters. Oakley’s great-grandnieces put up the items and had inherited them from their mother, who died in 2009.

What's your opinion? Is it healthy and normal to elevate historical guns to these heights? Do you think this goes beyond the usual interest in collectables?

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Annie Oakley Items on Auction

Boston.com reports

Relatives of legendary sharpshooter Annie Oakley are offering up a collection of items -- including her Stetson hat, guns, letters and photographs -- in an auction that one expert says hits the mark for its breadth and sentimental value.

On Sunday, Heritage Auctions will offer up about 100 Oakley-related items in Dallas, including a 12-gauge Parker Brothers shotgun that is expected to fetch about $100,000. Two Marlin .22 caliber rifles are expected to sell for more than $20,000 each.

Oakley gained fame in the 1880s and 1890s for her shooting skills as a performer in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. She died in 1926 at the age of 66, but has remained a pop culture icon.