DNA Testing and Wyatt Earp's Spittoon

List it on ebay as "possibly containing Wyatt's last spit"

Should fetch a bomb, but state that its sold as seen without guarantees....

John.

I believe that I would at least explore the cost and availability of DNA analysis for such an item. There would, however, have to be a reference sample from Wyatt and or Virgil to compair to. This too would have to be researched and verified.

Sounds like an interesting search and could, as you have indicated, increase the value of your spittoon significantly.

Good luck, peh

I am not a DNA expert, but I believe it works on the basis of ruling out percentages of population, until either (1) you get a good probability that the sample is unlikely to contain anyone elses DNA except the subject you are trying to prove (Prosecution), or (2) that you prove that your subject's DNA is NOT contained in the sample. (Defense). In other words, if is far more likely to get a false positive, than to get a false negative.

That is one reason why police try NOT to contaminate a crime scene, at least until CSI investigators have done their thing. With your spittoon likely to hold DNA from hundreds to thousands of possibly unrelated people, such contamination is guaranteed and I do not believe you would have much chance of proving that either of the Earps actually spit into the spittoon.

Unless it turned out that this was a personal spittoon kept by the famous lawman for his own use and thus contained primarily his own DNA only, it is not likely that DNA testing would do much good. If it was a public spittoon, as in a saloon or a barber shop, or even the sherrif's office, forget about it!

More importantly, your piece should have documentation, a paper trail, or "provenance" that proves that your spittoon actually came from the same town, in the same time period, such that it might be associated with the Earps. Otherwise, it might just as well be any other old, dirty, scummy, brass vase! This provenance could include bills of sale, photographs from the town showing similar spittoons, written statements as to authenticity (people are less likely to lie on a signed document, that is known as fraud and can get you sent to prison!), etc. This is what will give your spittoon value.

probably not capable of sorting out any usable dna at all. Probably not any dna to sort even if it was.

Thanks for the input. I now know a bit more about DNA testing than I did before. Further comment from the e-bay side indicates the spitoon is one of many items manufactured in the early ninteen seventies to raise money to restore the old Goldfield Hotel. Not that old, not there when the Earps were there, probably will go for about $20. Oh well...end of story. Thanks all.

Mr. Shurtle.....your questions has provoked some very interesting discourse and has provided not quite as much excitement as actually tracing DNA analysis, and has not been quite as rewarding as initially hoped. However, It has been very entertaining...thanks for the fun