Roy Rogers Museum Auction Includes Trigger, Nellybelle

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Jun 14th 2010 at 9:01PM

Last month I wrote about the auction of Roy Rogers' mineral collection and I wondered where the rest of the contents of the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum would end up. It will be auctioned off by Christie's on July 14 and 15 in association with High Noon Western Americana. The museum was closed last year and the auction will include everything from saddles, personal photos, awards to the famous Nellybelle jeep from the 1950s TV Show and even the horse Trigger. A press release notes that High Noon Western Americana, in conjunction with the Rogers family, did try to place Trigger, another horse Buttermilk and the Rogers' dog Bullet with a national museum but found that because of the recession museums did not have funds available to expand their permanent collections.

The Roy Rogers Personal Firearms & Hunting Collections will be sold at Brian Lebel's Old West Auction at the Denver Merchandise Mart on June 25-27. Roy's firearms will be sold including his very first belt and double holster rig. his gold-plated 101 Ranch revolvers, the shotgun he bought off Clark Gable, and one of Dale Evans' only guns, a pearl handled Colt. The collection includes antique, modern and commemorative firearms. Artifacts supporting Roy's avid hunting interests will be offered including his favorite hunting hat as well as his 1964 Lincoln Continental convertible and the last motorcycle he owned before retiring from riding, a 1982 V45 Honda, driven only 2,000 miles will also be sold at this auction.

UPDATE: A Nebraska cable TV network, RFD-TV paid $266,500 for Trigger, at the auction.The company's owner, Patrick Gottsch, was interested in buying the whole Roy Rogers collection but found out about the auction too late to get a deal together. RFD-TV is looking to put a Western museum together but until then Trigger will likely find a home either in the office lobby or in Gottsch's home.

Tags: dale evans, nellybelle, roy rogers, roy rogers museum, trigger, western memorabilia

Filed under: Auctions

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)

Spectacular Bid Jun 14th 2010 9:23PM

quote "another horse Buttermilk" ... he was Dave Evan's buckskin Quarter Horse and he died in 1972. The gelding - once named Taffy - had been abused in his early life well before being purchased by one of Hollywood's leading animal trainers.

It's a shame that he Evans' family doesn't have the taste to forgo selling these beloved animals and giving them a proper final rest. Roy must be rolling over in his grave.

Linda Jun 15th 2010 8:01PM

Buttermilk was Dale Evans horse.

konfettees Jun 16th 2010 9:06PM

What a shame! I grew up watching the Roy Rogers & Dale Evans Show.
Later my husband and I met Roy and Dusty (his son). Met Dusty at the local radio station in Victorville, CA and later Dusty and Roy stopped by our table (my husband was a custom knife maker) at the Great Western Gun and Knife show at the LA County Fair Grounds. Boy, what great memories!! We lived in Victorville for about nine years and also visited the Roy Rogers Museum.
It's a real shame that our economy has ruined so many wonderful things!

Anonymous Jun 15th 2010 8:59PM

Donate the horses to the Kentucky Horse Park museum!

Vern Jun 16th 2010 2:26AM

YOUR ARE SO RIGHT ON THIS..WHERE HAS ALL OUR TRUE HEROS GONE. I GUESS THEY LEFT WITH ROY AND GENE. ALL THE FAMILYS WANT IS THE MONEY I GUESS..MONEY IS NOT EVEYTHINY IS IT? BUT SOME WILL NEVER KNOW THIS............

al schrader Jun 16th 2010 5:03AM

Maybe they'll have me stuffed.....Al-

Lune Jun 15th 2010 5:39AM

I find this really disgusting,Trigger should be cremated and buried next to Roy.

Tom Hissong Jun 15th 2010 9:39PM

Roy had Trigger stuffed & mounted. I think Trigger would look great in my living room, right next to Silver & Scout!

Gloria Jun 16th 2010 1:18AM

It would seem that they don't want to contribute these wonderful pieces of history to anyone or anything. I would imagine they'd keep them if they weren't interested in the money. But if it's truly not the money, I wish they'd donate it all to the Smithsonian and I wish the Smithsonian would accept it all. Trigger, Buttermilk an dBullit ARE at rest. Their bodies are of no concern to them any longer. But they are to us and they need to be preserved. This breaks my heart.

C.W. Jul 11th 2010 11:22PM

And where would Dale be in this line-up?????

C.W. Jul 11th 2010 11:24PM

And where would Dale be in this line-up????

Bruce Taylor Jun 15th 2010 12:03PM

Too bad this collection has to be sold and scattered. Wonder why none of the many children did not did not decide to continue the museum? That's a shame.

Tom Jun 15th 2010 7:31PM

None of the children wanted to keep things going for good business reasons. Roy and Dale were solid examples of the capitalism of the '50 and '60s. They only cared about personal gain. The museum collection had no sentimental value. Sentiment, loyalty and caring for things other than money were simply prop-themes to make them attractive on TV.

Dale and Roy taught their children well to emulate their crass commercial interest in things and the exclusion of other values. So the children don't donate old things to museums, but rake in what they can right now, while ensuring that their parents' legacy is scattered to the wind, to be lost and forgotten, while they live on the small addendum to their already great wealth that an auction might bring.

darqueartny Jun 15th 2010 4:26PM

Because, as always, it come down to "How much money can we make off this?". Cover 2 of my "pet peeves" (literally) the enslavment of animals for our own entertainment (Poor animals can even escape it in death) and the need to use everything andf anything to turn a profit. Perhaps we should allow the animals to teach us a few things. Ever see any animal care about how much money it's going to make??

cabrunet Jun 15th 2010 8:20PM

It's a shame they didn't donate all this memorabilia to the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum.

shlonerider38 Jun 18th 2010 12:29AM

The already moved the musuem from Victorville, Ca. to Branson, Mo. which continued it for about 10 yrs. longer. They can only do so much in this economy. If the musuem isn't making enough to maintain it one finally has to bite the bullet and ride off into the sunset. The children have really been devoted and done the best they can. They are also getting up in age.

Jackie Jun 15th 2010 10:59PM

I totally agree that it is a shame the collection is being sold. The sad thing is, it'll probably get sold to some foreign collector from Japan or someplace similar. That is what happened when the 75,000 or so artifacts at the Wells Fargo Museum in Tombstone, AZ were sold back in 1983. And we Americans only heard about it from a very small innocuous place in the local newspaper AFTER the fact!! Think about it, American History of any kind or form being sold to someone who can't possibly appreciate its true value, and I'm not talking monetary value. It's a sad, sad day:(

Regina Jun 15th 2010 11:48PM

Roy Jr. said last year that no one was coming to the museum any more. It was costing too much to maintain.

Vern Jun 16th 2010 2:25AM

ITS ALL ABOUT MONEY

Dennis Jun 15th 2010 2:00PM

What would you Pay to go to a Tom Mix Museum? Or pay for his things? Or any of the earlier Cowboys?

Same problem.. Those people fade away into the History Books as they do when those Generations of People fade as well..

Just like all the other Past movie stars end up...

And when the Baby Boomers Pass on? So will all the Toys and Movie Stars of their Generation go with them..

Wonder why the big Push for selling Muscle Cars? in 20-40 yrs? You won't be able to give them away.. they will be Relics..
from yesteryear..and probably belong in the past..

For speed? The New cars are Faster and HandleBetter..

and in the future? It will be Hydrogen Cell Power'd cars going 0-60 in 1 sec..

And the Collector Cars? Are So expensive, do you really want to take them for a Ride and have some Drunk plow into you?

Do like they do for Jewelery.. Keep the Original At Home and Use a replicar..-Immitation..on the street..

I'll take a Replica Corvette, but only with a v6 engine please..on a Chevy Malibu Frame..
or a Ferriari with a Chevy V4 engine..please..in Fiberglass.