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Harrisburg to sell $8m collection intended for Old West museum

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Thousands of American Indian and Western artifacts purchased by the city government will be sold at a four-day auction scheduled for October, officials said Thursday.

Mayor Stephen R. Reed spent about $8 million in nontax city money to assemble the collection -— including Annie Oakley's coat, a card table from Wyatt Earp's saloon and the gun that killed Jesse James —- for an Old West museum he wanted to have built in Harrisburg. [WHP-TV reported the items are being sold "to help fill a hole in the city's budget."]

Mayoral spokesman Randy King said the city will retain the collection's most valuable items and put them on display in Harrisburg's National Civil War Museum.
Read entire article at AP