Sitting Bull's 1885 Buffalo Bill contract fetches $168,213 at auction

At a recent auction by RR Auction, a historic contract from 1885 involving Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West show was sold for an impressive $168,213. This single-page agreement, dated June 6, 1885, outlined Sitting Bull’s involvement in the show for four months, with a weekly compensation of $50 and exclusive rights to his photographs and autographs. The contract, signed at the Standing Rock Agency in present-day South Dakota, featured signatures from Indian agent James McLaughlin and interpreter Joseph Primeau. This deal came after Sitting Bull’s return from exile in Canada, marking his participation in the show that year, following his role in the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn.