2024 was a year of market-defining moments for Rock Island Auction Company and the arms collecting world. RIAC realized more than $111 million in sales, the company's fourth consecutive year breaking the $100 million threshold, a strong testament to both RIAC's future growth potential and the strength of the industry we've proudly led for more than two decades.

In 2024, Rock Island Auction Company's annual sales were up 8.8% from the previous year. In terms of new bidders, new auction types, new world records, and more, 2024 proved to be an industry-defining year for RIAC and the fine and historic arms collecting field.

2024 marked Rock Island Auction Company's 31st year in business and our first full year of hosting live auctions from our new state-of-the-art Bedford, Texas facility. Expanding into Texas was the largest undertaking in company history. While this ambitious venture presented no shortage of logistical challenges, the opportunity to establish a true global epicenter for the fine, rare and historic arms field was an investment well worth the risk. One year later, the results speak for themselves.

One Year in Texas

In its first full year in Texas, RIAC saw milestones become stepping stones, old boundaries shattered, and records broken across every genre. The new Texas venue helped bring more collectors and clients into the fold, with the company seeing a double digit increase in total bids and active bidders. First time bidders rose more than 37% from its 2023 total.

In 2024, Rock Island Auction Company's three Premier Auctions each earned more than $20 million, with the highest-earning auction achieving $25.7 million. 12 of RIAC's last 13 Premier Auctions have broken the $20 million mark, a figure that felt unimaginable only five short years ago.

While some collectible markets struggle to recalibrate in a post-pandemic landscape, Rock Island Auction Company has defied this trend and continues to lead our industry to higher results across nearly every segment of the fine and historic arms collecting field. From "blue chip" genres like Colt and Winchester, to machine guns, military arms, and some of the most exquisite antique pieces ever to pass the podium, 2024 was truly a year of records.

In its first full year of operation, RIAC's Bedford venue has become the colosseum of fine arms collecting and has witnessed numerous world records.

History Lives Here

From the royal armories of Europe to the frontiers of the American West, Rock Island Auction Company has offered the finest historical treasures in gun collecting. According to RIAC President Kevin Hogan, the royal wheellock of King Louis XIII was "pound-for-pound the greatest firearm we have ever handled, truly and utterly sensational in every way."

Once part of the French monarch's renowned ‘Cabinet d'Armes’, King Louis XIII's ornamented sporting arm was offered to the collecting public for the first time in RIAC's August 2024 Premier Auction. A sale 400 years in the making, the historic masterpiece from the vaunted Norman R. Blank Collection realized a price of $881,250, setting a new world record for the wheellock genre.

2024 saw pieces connected to some of history's most prominent figures offered at RIAC. Names like Buffalo Bill Cody, George Armstrong Custer, George S. Patton, and Elvis Presley graced the auction hall, with one firearm tied to both Theodore Roosevelt and Kit Carson turning heads in May. The .70 caliber Hawken rifle, a treasure from Roosevelt's personal collection, achieved $235,000 at Rock Island Auction Company, setting a decisive record for its model.

President Theodore Roosevelt's big bore Hawken rifle attributed to Kit Carson sold for $235,000 in Rock Island Auction Company's May 2024 Premier Auction in Bedford, Texas.

Owning a gun from the Old West is an aspiration of every 19th century American arms collector, with artifacts from real life legends of the era commanding some truly exceptional prices. Both the Colt Thunderer revolver and the peace officer's badge of Pat Garrett, the U.S. lawman who killed Billy the Kid, each set a new world record in their genre, earning $528,750 and $235,000 respectively.

New Winchester World Records

Rock Island Auction Company unearthed two extraordinary Winchester lever action rifles in 2024 that were completely unknown, unpublished, and fresh to market. The first example, a relief engraved, and gold banded Winchester Model 1873, reflected the luxury offerings of the era, while the second rifle, a Winchester Model 1886, offered the collecting world a one-of-a-kind time capsule of condition.

Known as "the Marshfield Find," this extraordinary Winchester 1886 had remained in the same family for nearly 140 years and included its original case and contents. A genuine attic find, this mint lever gun hit the auction block in August 2024 and sold for $352,500, setting the new record for a standard model Winchester 1886.

Another icon of early Winchesters, the Model 1885 appeals to multiple generations of arms collectors, shooters, and fans of frontier history. In 2024, numerous rare examples of the genre found impressive prices at Rock Island Auction Company, from original J.M. Browning 1879 Patent rifles to several of the finest Model 1885 Deluxe High Wall rifles ever offered. The example below, a John Ulrich engraved masterpiece, set the world record for its model in August 2024 with $211,500.

A John Ulrich signed, factory game scene engraved and platinum inlaid exhibition Winchester Model 1885 High Wall Schuetzen rifle with a factory carved stock set the record for its genre in August 2024, achieving $211,500 at RIAC.

Additionally, Rock Island Auction Company crushed two world records in Winchester Model 70 collecting. In August 2024, RIAC set the overall record for the popular model with the $293,750 sale of an Alden George Ulrich exhibition engraved and gold-inlaid rifle in .220 Swift. In December, RIAC set the world record for a Model 70 carbine by achieving $99,875 for a WW2 era Super Grade in .257 Roberts.

Commanding Colts

In the arms collecting world, few names evoke as much reverence as Colt, and in 2024 Rock Island Auction Company offered one of the most impressive lineups the market has ever seen. December's auction alone featured seven world-class Colt collections that together represented over 250 years of dedication to acquiring the rarest, most distinguished, and historically significant pieces available.

Some of the finest Colt revolvers found success at RIAC in 2024, including a cased Colt Third Model Dragoon with an 8" barrel from the George S. Lewis Jr. Collection (top right), which earned $440,625 in August 2024.

Examples from the storied collections of Greg Lampe, Andrew Singer, Charlie Marx, George Lewis, Robert M. Lee, and Brig and Louise Pemberton attracted worldwide attention to RIAC in 2024, including an exceptional Colt Single Action Army revolver that set a new world record price for a firearm engraved by the iconic Wilbur A. Glahn, selling in December for $235,000.

One day after setting the Glahn world record, Rock Island Auction Company made more history in the Colt Single Action Army field with the sale of a Colt “Pinched Frame" SAA. Described by Colt historian and author Ron Graham as “the finest known, .45 Colt caliber, private collection, pinched frame Single Action that retains its first assembly factory original condition,” this remarkable revolver earned a world record for its configuration with a $293,750 realized price at RIAC.

This pinched frame Colt SAA revolver, featured in 'A Study of the Colt Single Action Army Revolver' by Ron Graham, John A. Kopec, C. Kenneth Moore, achieved a world record in December 2024 at RIAC with its $293,750 sale.

Sporting Arms Soar

Investment-grade sporting arms flourished in 2024, with Rock Island Auction Company seeing its best numbers to date for the genre. Several monumental lifetime collections crossed the block in all three of RIAC's Premier auctions this year, with one exceptional grouping from a world-class Texas collector including two different trios of Purdey shotguns, which sold for $381,875 and $528,750 respectively. A mint .500 NE Westley Richards dangerous game rifle from that same collection sold for $199,875.

This consecutive trio of engraved Best Quality over/under shotguns achieved $528,750 in RIAC's May 2024 Premier Auction.

Shotguns soared across every era and collecting niche, with an exhibition quality Le Page-Moutier double barrel percussion shotgun earning $440,625, President Gerald Ford's Winchester Model 21 realizing $117,500, and Kermit Roosevelt's Parker Bros. shotgun selling for $105,750.

Even working guns like the Remington 1100 saw impressive showings. In December 2024, RIAC broke the record for that classic model twice in a single day, with a "Premier Skeet" 28 gauge Remington 1100 engraved by Master Robert P. Runge Remington more than doubling its estimate, only to be surpassed one lot later by a .410 bore example also engraved by Robert Runge that reached over three times its high.

Two immensely rare Boss & Co. O/U sub gauge shotguns hailing from the heart of Dallas took center stage at Rock Island Auction Company in 2024. A prewar example sold for $164,500 in August. In December, RIAC offered the first ever produced Boss .410 bore, which achieved $352,500, the world record for any Boss & Co. firearm.

Military Arms

Over 25 years ago, Rock Island Auction Company first made a name for itself with record-shattering results on US and foreign military arms, handling the most celebrated and prestigious collections. 2024 featured an exceptional assortment from coveted names like the Alan Cors Collection and the legendary Jan Still Collection. The strength of the genre was reflected by numerous six-figure sales, including a Colt M1907 US Test Trials pistol that set a world record for its model with a realized price of $352,500 in May 2024.

Perhaps there is no hotter market in the collectible arms field than Class III weapons. From WW1 to the Cold War, rare machine guns from multiple genres have broken the six-figure threshold at Rock Island Auction Company, often divisively so.

Two separate FN M240s each sold for a staggering $470,000 in 2024. An Armalite AR-18 “Shorty/Carbine” broke the record for the AR-18 platform in May when it realized $99,875, only to be surpassed in August by a prototype AR-18 that reached $117,500. During that same August Premier Auction, the Texas crowd was treated to the world record sale for a Stoner 63, which took home $223,250 after a tense bidding battle.

This Stoner 63A sold for $223,250 in RIAC's August 2024 Premier Auction, a record setting price for the popular Stoner 63 platform.

New Auctions, New Innovations

For quality, variety, and sheer volume of collectible firearms offered, Rock Island Auction Company set a new standard in 2024. RIAC's Sporting & Collector Auctions are known for offering an impressive selection of arms attainable to the everyman collector, and 2024's lineup demonstrated our commitment to increasing the depth and quality found within these fantastic sales.

In 2024, Rock Island Auction Company unveiled several new auction types, including specialty formats like a Smith & Wesson Collectors Spotlight Auction and a "World at War" Auction focused on the military arms genre. The year also saw the debut of the RIAC on Time format, Rock Island Auction Company's innovative take on the classic internet timed auction.

On September 20th, Rock Island Auction Company hosted its first "Guns & Coffee" event. This auction marked several firsts for the company's new Bedford venue, including the first RIAC Arms & Accessories Auction hosted in Bedford, our first A&A Auction with a live audience, and our first A&A Auction preceded by a Preview Day.

RIAC's "Guns & Coffee" combines our popular Arms & Accessories format with a live audience and a full Preview Day event prior to auction.

In addition to holding seven auctions in 2024, Rock Island Auction Company's Bedford facility welcomed the founders of Horse Soldier Bourbon for their Whiskey & War Stories event, as well as hosting the members of the Texas Gun Collectors Association to join us for our year-end December Premier. RIAC's state-of-the-art venue was designed for the collector, by the collector, and arms enthusiasts from around the globe are invited to attend one of our many upcoming events in 2025.

Ideally located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, RIAC's Bedford venue is a can't miss destination for every firearms fan.

Looking Ahead in 2025

In 2024, the future of gun collecting found its home in Bedford, Texas, a field of dreams for the firearms fraternity where history comes alive. Rock Island Auction's new venue isn't simply a global showplace for the fine arms market, it's a reflection of the company's passion for collecting, our commitment to presentation, and our ongoing mission to elevate the genre to its rightful place on the world stage.

RIAC's first full year in Bedford surpassed all expectations and then some.

Rock Island Auction’s total auction sales to date have now surpassed $1.3 billion, with nearly half of that figure achieved in the last six years alone. Expect more auctions, more events, and more industry-defining moments in 2025. The market has shown its hunger, and the future of the fine arms field looks brighter than ever before.

2025 promises another groundbreaking year filled with record-breaking results.