Order Catalog

Gun auction catalogs are an auction company’s single most effective tool to present and market your collectable firearms. In an auction world that is increasingly becoming dominated by off-site bidders, we use our catalogs to nearly put the guns into the hands of people around the world who are confident in bidding on your items without ever inspecting them in person. They have even received two Pewter Prizes in the Business Catalog category at the Gold Ink Awards, the industry’s most prestigious print competition.

It is our job to bring the items to life on the pages of our catalogs. Our goal is to present the item as is: no better, no worse, but accurately. We at Rock Island Auction Company produce the finest catalogs in the industry. Since RIAC’s inception we have continued to be pioneers in our approach to catalog design and layout. In the early 1990’s we were the first company to adopt full color photography and approximately 11 years later we were the first to switch from film to digital photography. The innovation that we incorporate into our catalogs is unmatched: we were the first to publish a fluid cylinder scene shot, and the first and only to use fold out page displays. In the pages that follow you will read about everything that makes our catalogs the best in the industry. Many of the features in our catalogs are completely unique and exclusive to RIAC.

To see these three-volume gun auction catalogs is to truly appreciate what an impressive document they are. These books are also spiral bound for our buyers’ convenience, making them easy to browse, hold one’s place, and to use during our auctions. Anyone who orders a catalog for an auction, also receives the prices realized after the sale has finished, making the catalogs a useful pricing tool in addition to its beauty. We couldn’t be more proud of these stunning publications.

Informative

In the world of collectables it is widely recognized that knowledge is power. It takes years of studying, reading, and inspecting firearms to develop the skills to understand and identify originality and rarity. Furthermore, many of our buyers are flocking to antique and collectable firearms as an investment opportunity rather than as a student of a particular make, model, or genre. It is our continued effort to inform our clients about what makes a given firearm valuable, rare, and unique - our catalog is the perfect platform in which to do so. We do this by highlighting certain rare features with detailed close-up photography. We give the client a reason to bid more! Secondly, we educate our clients through detailed and informative descriptions which provide a history of the firearm and then provide a thorough condition evaluation.

Expertise and Experience

RIAC has the finest and most knowledgeable firearms specialists in the industry. These specialists understand the product, know the market, and most importantly, know what it means to be a collector, (because many of them are collectors themselves). They understand the collecting mindset and recognize a “must own item” or understand when a piece may be a once in a life time opportunity to own. Because we understand the passion, emotion, history, and the hunt behind each and every collection, we can accurately recognize and assess the monetary value of a piece.

Every firearm that comes into RIAC is evaluated and described by one of our in-house specialists. Each description is comprehensive and honest. The high level of scholarship in each description translates to trusting, informed, and confident potential buyers who are ready to bid more aggressively. All firearm descriptions are built on two major components: historical significance and a condition statement. We give as much history and background on each and every item as possible. When a piece comes with well documented history, we go above and beyond to tell the story. The other component that we include is a condition statement where the describer examines the piece from top to bottom and evaluates its condition.

Photography

With the combination of our outstanding graphic design team and our industry leading photography, we are able to make the firearms in our gun auctions come to life on the pages of our catalog. This is achieved by our renewed effort to invest and reinvest in the latest and greatest photography equipment and design software. Our photography station set up is a trade secret that allows us to get more detail in each and every picture. Our in-depth descriptions and page designs are complimented by beautiful close-ups and detail shots that make the items come to life.