A photograph believed to be the only surviving image of Billy the Kid has been bought by a private collector for US$2.3m at auction.

The black and white image was created using tintype, an early 19th century type of photography which used metal plates to create reverse images. The 19th-century image of the wild west outlaw was believed to have been taken in 1879 or 1880 in Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

The image was only once publicly displayed at a museum in Lincoln County, New Mexico, where Billy the Kid began his infamous career as a gunman in the 1870s. He was later shot dead by Sheriff Pat Garrett in 1881 and is buried in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, where the photograph is believed to have been taken.

The auction house had expected the portrait to go for no more than $400,000.

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