This lot contains two period artifacts related to William Fredrick Cody, a.k.a Buffalo Bill. 1) A tri-fold mirror with the inscription "Merry Christmas/To: My Darling Wife/Louisa/From:'Wm.' F. Cody" on a paper insert to the back of a panel. The paper backs to the remaining two mirrors have a colorful illustration of a young woman (see image). 2) A leather briefcase marked "'Wm.' F. Cody/Buffalo Bill-Wild West." The briefcase and mirror was purchased at an estate sale in 1991 from the niece of the man that worked for Buffalo Bill in Wheaton, Illinois. Buffalo Bill was born William Fredrick Cody in 1846, not more than 30 miles from Rock Island Auction Company near the small river town of LeClaire, Iowa, in Scott County, right on the Mississippi River. He married Louisa Frederici in early 1866. In late 1872, Cody went to Chicago to make his stage debut in The Scouts of the Prairie, one of Ned Buntline’s original Wild West shows (Buntline was also the author of the Buffalo Bill novels). In 1883, Cody founded his own show "Buffalo Bill's Wild West", a circus-like extravaganza that toured widely for three decades in the United States and later throughout Europe. Besides Buffalo Bill himself, the Wild West show starred sharpshooter Annie Oakley and Chief Sitting Bull, with real wild west cowboys and range hands as extras and stand-ins. These shows helped to create the legend of the Western Frontier, thereby establishing an American identity that still resonates today.

1) Very good. The mirror backs show some paper loss that does not distract from the colorful images overall or show loss to the inscription. The mirrors show light dark age speckling. 2) Good. The leather shows age cracking with some missing stitching. The tops of the dividers inside the briefcase have been repaired with contemporary adhesive tape.