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Rock Island Auction Company earned the Guinness World Records title for the most expensive prop gun ever auctioned with the $1.06 million sale of Han Solo’s blaster from the original Star Wars film. The record had already changed hands twice the previous year, with John Wayne’s revolver selling for $517,000 in October and Captain Kirk’s phaser rifle earning $615,000 the following month.
Historic significance and celebrity appeal are far from the only factors driving growth in the upper echelon of arms collecting. Condition, rarity, and exceptional artistry helped four of Rock Island Auction Company’s top performers attain seven-figure status. All three traits are evident in the previously mentioned Millikin Dragoon as well as a Winchester Model 1886 Express rifle engraved by master John Ulrich which earned $1.18 million at Rock Island Auction Company in 2018. One of our seven-figure runner- ups, a solid silver Winchester Model 1866, exceeded its estimate by more than 50 percent as it gaveled for $977,500 in December of 2021, a result achieved in large part due to the firearm’s spectacular engraving from master artisan Louis D. Nimschke.
Persistent high risers can be found within numerous segments of the fine arms field. Antique Colts and Winchesters, two 19th- century collecting cornerstones, jointly account for 39 of Rock Island Auction’s 50 most expensive firearms. Exhibition-grade flintlocks and wheellocks are another genre with no lack of demand. While items tied to influential leaders achieve the highest results, recently exampled by a garniture of arms presented to Napoleon Bonaparte that gaveled for $2.88 million at Rock Island
Auction Company, many other instances of the genre have earned impressive prices solely due to their exceptional artistic merit.
Five decades after the Met’s then record-setting purchase of King Louis XIII’s flintlock, Rock Island Auction Company’s August 23 – 26 Premier Auction offers another treasure from the French king’s famous Cabinet d’Armes. King Louis XIII’s gold and silver ornamented royal presentation wheellock, an absolute masterpiece of early 17th century artistry, exhibits all the right traits to make an impressive auction showing.
New records have been set in nearly every corner of arms collecting, and the sector’s extensive overlap with popular disciplines such as Western art, celebrity memorabilia, the decorative arts field, and historic military collecting has helped fuel an impressive uptrend in this thriving alternative asset class. As demand continues to grow, anyone seeking to add collectibles to their portfolio would be wise to consider the fine firearms market, where the
patient investor will discover a high ceiling, a wealth of opportunity, and some of the finest treasures money can buy.
LOT429
Highly Attractive Pair of Factory P. Chung Signed and Engraved J. Purdey & Sons Sidelock Over/Under Shotguns
LOT 230
Spectacular U.S. Civil War Martially Inspected Savage Revolving Firearms Company Navy Model Percussion Revolver Attributed as Formerly of the U.S. Cartridge Company Collection
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