We Hold Two Types of Auctions

Questions? Email Us: Guns@RockIslandAuction.com

Submit an Online Request Now

Consignment Basics - 4 Steps

Questions To Ask

Rock Island Auction Company is located in Rock Island, Illinois. We on average sell between 18,000 and 20,000 firearms per year. We do this by conducting 5 live auctions annually from our  86,000 square foot facility. We have two types of firearms auctions; Premiere and Regional auctions.
 

Premiere Auctions

Our Premiere Auctions take place three times a year, each over a three-day period. A preview day is held all day on the preceding Thursday and the items are sold Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. A Premiere Auction consists of approximately 2,700 antique and collectable lots. Each of these auctions is made up of rare, unusual, mint, and highly collectable pieces. We produce a minimum of 5,000 full color, 3-volume catalog sets featuring each lot with in-depth descriptions, a high and low estimate and multiple high resolution photos. Each volume of the catalog corresponds to a day of the auction.  The three Premiere Auctions are typically held in April, September, and December.

Each auction routinely covers the main genres of collecting from antique to modern Winchesters, Colts, U.S. and European Military, Sporting, etc. Our Premiere Auctions also offer swords, bayonets, military artifacts, and other related material. We attract collectors from all over the world! These sales garner an average of $7.5 to $12 million dollars. Our website features the entire auction catalog online and is searchable by model, serial number, manufacturer, lot number, keyword, and more.

Regional Auctions

Our Regional auctions are made up of affordable antiques, beginning collector’s items, usable sporting arms, and many non-firearm lots. A majority of the lots have multiple firearms. A Regional Auction has routinely consisted of approximately 3,000 lots with as many as 7,000 firearms in those lots. We hold 2 Regional Auctions per year, one in the summer and one in the winter. The Regional Auction has a preview day which is held all day on the Thursday prior to the auction. The items are sold Friday, Saturday and Sunday - same as our Premiere Auctions.

The concept of the Regional Sale was initiated by the demand that our customers developed for the “everyday collector type” guns. Were these guns placed in a Premiere Auction, they would simply be overshadowed. These guns need to be seen in person as we keep the description to a minimum and use a rating scale for the condition of the items. This is due to the volume and the concept of this being a Regional sale. We encourage the buyer to view the items in person, therefore we focus on buyers within a 500 mile driving radius. We normally produce 15,000 black and white catalogs that are sent to potential bidders all over the world. These sales have become immensely popular! Our number of catalogs printed has sky-rocketed leading the number of absentee bids to do the same.

These auctions are comprised of firearms such as sporting and hunting firearms, manufacturers such Browning, Winchester, Ruger, Colt, Remington, Smith & Wesson, plus Japanese and European military firearms. You will also find firearm related books, holsters, daggers, parts, leather, ammunition and more. Don’t be fooled by the “Regional” title as there are many antique and highly collectable items in this sale! Each item is listed with a headline, high and low estimates, condition rating, and photo. These sales garner on average $2 to $5 million dollars. As with our Premiere Auctions, our website features the entire Regional Auction catalog of items and is searchable by model, serial number, manufacturer, lot number, keyword, and more. All items are viewable IN COLOR online!

Due to the reduced emphasis on written descriptions in Regional Auction catalogs, all sales in the regional auction are final.