SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) — Mobster memorabilia is no steal these days.
At a San Francisco auction this week, somebody ponied up almost $5,000 for an auction lot featuring Al Capone's toenail clippers, as well as dice, a christening medal and an ivory cigar holder once owned by the legendary crime boss.
Somebody else paid $5,174 for Capone's Colt revolver, while another buyer splurged and spent $12,650 to purchase the blood-stained hat worn by Clyde Barrow on the day he and Bonnie Parker were ambushed and killed by police in 1934.
The two-day sale at San Francisco's Butterfields auctioneers featured a number of other criminal conversation pieces including a bullet proof vest used by the John Dillinger gang and a lot of memorabilia relating to Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd.
The top price getter at Monday's sale was a handwritten collection of Bonnie Parker's poetry, including a frequently misspelled but heartfelt salute to her partner in crime:
"Some day they'll go down together
They'll bury them side by side
To few it'll be grief
To the police it'll bee relief
but it's deth to Bonnie & Clyde"