#RockIslandAuction

Premier auctions of Rock Island Auction Company always contain firearms that once belonged to prominent historical figures. The May 2021 Rock Island Premier Firearms Auction was no exception but it was rather exceptional as a truly unique lot was consigned to it. Lot #125 contained two flintlock pistols and other items that belonged to a founding father – Alexander Hamilton. The May 2021 Premier Auction ended just recently and these artifacts of American history were sold for $1,150,000.

The catalogs of Rock Island Auction Company’s premier auctions are a unique source for aficionados of obscure and unusual firearms as you can always find some of the rarest and most fascinating samples of such guns there. Many firearms that one can only see in the ultimate obscure gun reference book, “Firearms Curiosa”, often appear in these auctions and the subject of this article is likely one of them. This double-barreled stirrup pistol is currently listed in the catalog of the upcoming May 2021 Rock Island Premier Firearms Auction.

At their upcoming May 2021 Premier Firearms Auction, Rock Island Auction Company will be offering a true treasure of American history, a pair of flintlock pistols that belonged to none other than Alexander Hamilton himself. Although over the years, RIAC has sold a number of unique, one of a kind historical firearms like Theodor Roosevelt’s Colt SAA  or “The Danish Sea Captain” Colt Walker (the current record holder of most expensive single gun sold at an auction), this lot that contains a set of pistols owned and used by a Founding Father, has the highest estimated high price ($3,500,000) the company ever listed in their catalogs.

December is a gun auction month. Many of the largest American firearm  auction houses hold premier auctions in December where they sell the most unique, rare and expensive firearms. When the companies publish the catalogs of their premier auctions, we thoroughly browse them to find and tell you about the most interesting guns consigned to these auctions. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the most obscure firearms seen in the catalog of the December 2020 Rock Island Premier Firearms Auction.

Continuing our series of articles dedicated to the most valuable firearms consigned to major American auctions, today we’ll take a look at the top 5 most expensive lots sold during the June 2020 Rock Island Premier Gun Auction. This auction took place from June 4th to 7th and as usual, shortly after it ended, Rock Island Auction Company published the results in the auction’s online catalog as well as in a form of a downloadable list of prices realized which were the sources for writing this article.

When you hear “lever-action rifle”, you probably think about Winchester, Marlin or Henry …maybe also Volcanic or even Colt, but I bet never Smith & Wesson. However, there is such thing as a Smith & Wesson lever-action rifle and one of three such guns known to exist will be auctioned in the upcoming Rock Island Premier Gun Auction.

At the beginning of the past month, we reported about  Rock Island Auction Company preparing to hold the world’s largest firearm auction. The auction took place as scheduled (February 13th to 16th) and with over 11,200 guns sold in over 5,500 lots, the RIA February Sporting & Collector Auction generated $10.4 Million. Here is how RIAC described this auction in their press release.

Rock Island Auction Company has announced that with over 5500 consigned lots that consist of over 11200 guns, their February Sporting & Collector Auction will be the largest firearms auction ever held. Besides firearms and edged weapons, the lots also include a variety of other gun-related items such as ammunition, books, optics, accessories, art, parts, magazines, etc.

While browsing the catalog of the upcoming December 2019 Rock Island Premier Firearms Auction for putting together one of TFB’s articles about most interesting firearms seen in largest US auctions, I came across a couple of rather rare yet interesting Colt revolvers that were specifically made for exhibition shooters back in the end of 19th and the beginning of 20th centuries. What sets these guns apart is that while being chambered in one of the most popular cartridges of the day, the .44-40 Winchester, these revolvers are smoothbore!

Today I am introducing to our readers another installment from our series of articles about most expensive firearms sold in the major US auction houses. Last month, we discussed some of the most interesting, rare and unique lots consigned to the Rock Island December 2018 Premiere Firearms Auction. In this article, we’ll take a look at the five most expensive firearms sold during this auction.

Rock Island Auctions’ latest Premiere Auction, running from the 30th November to the 2nd December, has some extremely interesting and unusual firearms. Ranging from 18th century air guns to 20th century military prototypes lets take a look at some of the most interesting.

Continuing our series of articles telling about most expensive firearms  sold in the major US auction houses, today we’ll take a look at the five most expensive firearms sold in  September 2018 Rock Island Premiere Firearms Auction. This auction set a world record of the largest single firearms auction in the history with combined sales worth over $20 million.

Rock Island September 2018 Premiere Firearms Auction catalog is now online. Just like in the case of one of our previous articles, I browsed the catalog and selected five of the most interesting lots that are weird, rare, unusual or significant in terms of history and firearms technologies. The names of the guns are linked to the corresponding Rock Island Auction page where you can learn more about these guns and see more detailed pictures of any particular firearm. The list goes in no particular order.

I was going to write another overview of the most expensive firearms sold at recently ended Rock Island April 2018 Premiere Firearms auction in the same fashion that I have been doing it before. However, this time the auction was quite different – it set 10 world records of firearms sold at auctions. So instead of doing a top ten list, I thought it would be more interesting for our readers if I dedicate the article to the firearms that set these price records. And this time we will start with the most significant and expensive one. The record titles link to the corresponding Rock Island Auction Company website pages where you can learn more about these firearms. It is also important to understand that these records refer to sales in auction houses because it is impossible to know the sums of all the private deals.

If you read The Firearm Blog on a regular basis, then you must remember that earlier we have published articles identical to this one. We’ve been looking at the ten most expensive firearms sold in main auctions of America’s largest firearm auction houses: James D. Julia and Rock Island Auction. This article is no different than those previous ones except it covers the top ten of highest priced guns of the latest September 2017 Rock Island premiere firearms auction. In our list, we have the prices realized, which include the hammer price plus 15% “buyer’s premium” which is the auction house’s fee. As always, the list goes in price ascendancy order with the least expensive being the number 10 and the most expensive being the number one. The firearm names also link to the corresponding RIA page, where you can read more detailed descriptions and see more and higher resolution images of the guns.