Christie’s auctioned off the contents of the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum last week. Roy’s stuffed and mounted horse Trigger was sold for $266,000 to cable network RFD-TV, which also bought the stuffed remains of Roy’s dog Bullet for $35,000. RFD-TV will use them as studio props when it begins airing Roy Rogers movies this fall.
Roy Rogers’ saddle sold for $386,500, his guitar $8,750, and a pair of his boots fetched $7,500. The jeep Nellybelle sold for $116,500 and Roy’s silver-dollar-studded 1964 Bonneville brought in $254,500.
Dale Evans’ preserved horse Buttermilk sold for $35,000. Dale’s handwritten lyrics to the “Happy Trails” theme song sold for $27,500, and the crowd spontaneously sang the tune at the end of the sale. Total raised by the auction: $2.98 million.
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Tags: auction, Christie's, cowboys, Dale Evans, Happy Trails, museums, Nellybelle, Roy Rogers, taxidermy, Trigger, Westerns
NotionsCapital 
August 1, 2010 at 10:13 am
UPDATES:
Background at “Buy Roy Rogers’ Stuffed Horse. Happy Trails.”
and informed analysis”
“Trigger rides again” in Salon by Melissa Milgrom, author of Still Life: Adventures in Taxidermy.