From our humble beginnings in a garage that once housed founder Pat Hogan’s other business ventures, Rock Island Auction Company has moved twice to larger facilities to accommodate its burgeoning business. The most recent of which was in the spring of 2011 to its current state of the art, 150,000 square foot campus. The move demonstrates our investment in the industry and belief in the industry for many more years to come. We do not hesitate to consider it one of the most state of the art and comfortable brick and mortar auction facilities in the world. We have extensively renovated the space in every possible way to more closely demonstrate our motto: “We Believe in Presentation.”

Auction Hall

Our gun auction hall, much like our preview hall, was specially designed for one purpose: to sell firearms. It features a beautifully hand-built rosewood auctioneers podium and phone bank. The space is designed to comfortably seat 325 buyers with standing room in the rear. Additional features are the deluxe padded chairs and roomy aisle ways providing our buyers with the most comfortable buying atmosphere possible. Each lot is individually displayed on one of five massive, high definition, flat screen television monitors and a 90” Sharp Aquos HD Series LED Smart TV. We provide lunch free of charge and all we ask for in return is a donation to a charity. In the summer we take advantage of our outside pavilion for barbeques where buyers gather for a bite and some gun talk.

Gun Auction Preview Hall

Our preview hall was designed for one purpose: provide potential buyers the most comfortable and ideal conditions for viewing your collectable firearms. We have plenty of natural light coming through 15 windows and have recently upgraded all our lighting to LED. Our preview is set up chronologically so items are easy to find and they are presented in attractive and methodically planned displays. Due to our expansive facility there is no need to halt production in order to hold an auction or move our entire inventory across town or in some instances across the country to host an auction at a hotel or banquet hall. Auction firms who move their entire auction to hotels or banquet halls sacrifice their ability to hold multi-day previews, lack proper preparation and adequate preview set up time, and further increase the chance of broken, stolen, or damaged merchandise during moves.

Our Preview Hall perfectly exemplifies our motto, “We believe in presentation.” All items in an auction are on display for the collecting public. Natural light is abundant, but newly-installed LED lighting is there not only in an effort to “go green,” but also to accurately showcase the items on even the cloudiest of days. Padded racks line every wall and attendants can be readily found to assist anyone wishing to access our secure display cases. Each collector firearm is displayed neatly and easily viewed by the hundreds of buyers in attendance.

Production Floor

The Production Floor at Rock Island Company where the heavy lifting takes place behind the scenes. Here guns are securely checked-in, inventoried, placed into an auction, expertly photographed, painstakingly described, and carefully stored until auction day. It is a huge, impressive space that frequently elicits a “Wow!” from astonished visitors.

Besides its immense nature, the Production Floor actually gives RIAC some very important advantages in the firearms auction industry.

1. We don’t move. Your inventory stays in the building. We don’t have to store it one place, photograph it another, and auction it in yet another. Each move not only creates issues with security, but also results in excess handling and transportation of the firearms that can result in nicks, dings, or other detriments to the item’s condition.
2. Your items are insured. Because the items remain in our building while they are in our care, there is never an issue with insuring them. All items consigned to Rock Island Auction Company are insured while they are in our building, and we never extend a change to our consignors for this important benefit.
3. Climate Control The Production Floor is carefully climate controlled to ensure that every gun left in our possession is cared for like it was our own. Large industrial fans are in place to aid in this effort, as is a large curtain around our loading bay, to help ensure a consistent and well regulated environment for your arms.

Security

When we say that your guns are in our care until they are shipped to their new owner, we mean it. Our advanced security system keeps an eye on your firearms, and ensures only authorized individuals are permitted access to sensitive parts of the building. We have a two phase bank-style vault responsible for housing up to 500 firearms at any given time. In addition to the two vaults, we have 60 maneuverable recording security cameras strategically stationed around the facility, and our parking lot is surrounded by 200 yards of barbed wire fence. No expense is spared when it comes to the security and safety of your firearms at RIAC.

It is with your item’s security in mind that we also incorporate locked display cases into our Preview Hall, allowing easy viewing, yet keeping each item secure. Any of our numerous attendants in the hall are able to unlock cabinets for a more up-close inspection, and also help to secure all inventory on display.

Incoming Guns for Auction

Our incoming area and semi bays allow us to readily handle the amount of volume that comes with being the world’s number one firearms auction house. From here we can easily accept firearms transported by our DOT certified drivers, ship the pallets of catalogs we send to buyers across the country, as well as send off the thousands of collector firearms to their new owners after each and every auction.

Gun Auction Hall Location

Rock Island Auction Company is an extremely convenient location for buyers in several major metropolitan markets. We are within 400 miles of Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Madison, the Twin Cities, Cincinnati, Columbus, Louisville, Lancing, and Des Moines. For those in municipalities even further, we are less than 10 miles from Moline International Airport (MLI) and within 3 minutes from one of the area’s top hotel and casino.

The Quad City Area, has also been referred to as “the new Gun Mecca” of the United States. What New England was to 19th century firearms, the Quad Cities is to today’s market. Our neighbors include the Rock Island Arsenal, Springfield Armory, Armalite, Les Baer, Rock River Arms, and Lewis Machine & Tool. Enthusiasts of collector firearms could spend a week in the Quad Cities and not run out of places to visit.