Rock Island, IL. While the weather outside was unusually mild for the middle of February, inside Rock Island Auction Company’s auction floor was hot with action at their Regional Firearms Auction. The February 18th and 19th auction filled Rock Island’s 300+ seat auction hall with potential bidders. Auctioneer Kevin Hogan chuckled just before the auction started stating “If we expected this many people we would have built it even bigger, or at least tear down a wall or two.” The massive onsite crowd, record setting 13,500+ sealed bids and over 30 phone bidders brought the prices realized to a more than $3.3 Million, a stunning $1.3 Million over the pre-auction estimate, and a new record for a Regional Auction. 

The tone of the auction was set from the very beginning with Lot 1, a Henry Lever Action rifle estimated from $9,000-$16,000 which realized $19,550. Winchesters were in high demand all weekend, with both an 1886 Lever Action rifle in 50 Express, and an 1866 Lever Action rifle selling for $6,900 respectively. A Model 21 Tournament Skeet grade side by side double barrel shotguns sold for $5,175.Winchesters were far from the only lots to gather interest. A Colt Flattop Target Bisley revolver in scarce 32 Colt caliber rang the bell at $5,462.50. A first model Colt Dragoon and an antique Colt single action rounded out the top Colt lots each selling for $5,750. A Parker Brothers Model DHE grade 3 side by side shotgun brought an impressive $3,450, and a Sauer & Son side by side rifle sold for $5,175. German military items received some of the most heated bidding of the auction. The biggest surprise was a lot of four German field coats and four helmets which stole the show. The lot opened up at $1,200 and didn’t stop until the hammer dropped at $34,500!  

RIAC’s next auction is set to be their finest auction ever. Many have come to know the quality that has become synonymous with RIAC’s Premiere Firearms Auctions, however their April 20, 21 and 22 auction is shaping up to be their most impressive sale in almost two decades of firearms auctions. Firearms and items attributed or presented to some of the most prominent names in history including King George III, Emperor Napoleon III, Abraham Lincoln, Adolf Hitler, Viktor Lutze, Ulysses Grant and Peruvian president Jose Balta will all be featured in the sale. Extremely rare pieces include the first cartridge gun ever produced by Colt, a cased presentation Colt Patterson, the finest Colt Cavalry single action army revolver in existence, and original 1883 Gatling gun, a Briggs patent rifle originally from the Winchester museum, an iron frame Henry rifle, and an 1876 Winchester centennial revolver and two Winchester 1 of 1000’s. Also featured in this April auction is a collection of 19th century antiques and Americana highlighted by a magnificent Tiffany Laburnum lamp. There is truly not enough space to describe the quality featured in this historic sale.