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The
Beginning
with the December 2022 Premier Firearms Auction, Rock Island Auction Co. will be selling the collection of Jim Supica.
A prolific writer, Supica is the current editor
of the leading illustrated gun identification
and price guide Standard Catalog of Firearms and the co-author
Supica
Even before taking the NRA Museums job, Supica loved sharing his collecting passion with others. He created educational displays at gun shows, winning best-of-show awards at many of the leading shows. He was the first person to win both of NRA’s highest collector awards – the E. Andrew Mowbray Educational Display Trophy and the Gun Collectors Committee Trophy. Four of his guns have received the coveted NRA “Ten Best Arms” silver medals, and all are included in this auction. Many of his guns have been illustrated in books and magazine articles and were featured on television shows, including an entire episode of Gun Stories dedicated to the Serial Number One collection. His best pieces have been displayed on loan to the National Firearms Museums for years.
A native Kansan, Jim currently offers firearms appraising and consulting services. He is an NRA Benefactor Member and Certified Firearms Trainer and was elected to three terms on the NRA Board of Directors. He is a member of the American Society of Arms Collectors, Past-President of the S&W Collectors Association and Missouri Valley Arms Collectors Association, and AGI certified firearms appraiser.
Supica’s thoughts on liquidating his collections? He reports, “I have derived immense enjoyment from owning these guns for decades. Now it’s someone else’s turn.”
The Supica Collection is varied, but the selection in this auction can largely be placed into two categories:
SMITH & WESSON MODEL THREES – These large frame top-break revolvers were produced from 1870 to the early 1900s, including American, Russian, Schofield, New Model Number Three, and .44 Double Action models and related variations. Jim credits his interest in the field with a lifelong fascination with history
and legends of the post-Civil War American Old West. While he appreciates high condition antique arms, his personal collecting interests focused on guns with known historical association, the artistry of engraved arms, and rare variations.
In line with this, some of his personal favorites offered in this auction include:
• Jesse James attributed Schofield.
• .44 DA shipped to Medal of Honor Recipient and Rough
Rider Commander Gen. Leonard Wood.
• Panel scene Young engraved New Model Number Three shown in international expositions, Jim’s personal favorite example of high art firearms engraving.
• Rarities such as “0” serial number club guns and revolvers with detachable shoulder stocks.
• Theodore Roosevelt’s factory engraved New Model Number Three. Since childhood, TR was Supica’s favorite historical figure, and this is his favorite model handgun, making this his all-time favorite firearm.
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Jim & Eve Supica with display from 1996
NRA Gun Gurus from 2014
SERIAL NUMBER ONE GUNS – This unusual collection started when Jim had the opportunity to buy the first Charter Arms gun made: Undercover serial number 1. An Undercover was the first gun that he had ever owned. He was always perplexed by the advice he received as a beginning collector to “specialize.” With an interest in all types of firearms, this presented difficulties. It dawned on him that by collecting serial number ones, there was at least one example of every model ever made that qualified for his collection. He eventually acquired around 200 serial number one guns.
Some of the outstanding examples in this auction include: • Colt Model 1851 experimental .40 caliber s/n 1. • Smith & Wesson Schofield s/n 1.
• Sharps Model 1870 .50 cal. s/n 1.
• The first Springfield Armory M1A, s/n X001.
• First imported semi-auto AK, SKS, Uzi, and H&K rifles.
• Set number 1 of the Smith & Wesson Twelve Revolvers set and
• The s/n 1 set of 12-gun Colt Kansas Series Scouts.
of eight books on guns including the all-time bestseller Illustrated History of Firearms and Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson which is widely considered to be the definitive work on the subject. Over fifty of his articles on firearms history, collecting, and related subjects have been published, and he has been an acknowledged contributor to Blue Book of Gun Values, Flayderman’s Guide, and other books. He wrote the “Ask the Gun Guy” column for Shotgun News and as a contributing editor was a co-writer of the “I Have This Old Gun” and “Dope Bag” columns in American Rifleman. Supica has appeared as a firearms expert in over 200 national television episodes, including co-hosting five seasons of NRA Gun Gurus on the Outdoor Channel and the limited series American Guns on Amazon Prime. He was regularly featured on Gun Stories with Joe Mantegna, American Rifleman Television, and NRA TV’s Curator’s Corner. A licensed inactive attorney, he has also served as an expert witness on firearms history in various Second Amendment court cases and has been cited in U.S. Supreme Court cases.
Supica was director of the NRA Museums Division for twelve years. In that role, he managed the NRA National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, Virginia, and oversaw the design and installation of the NRA National Sporting Arms Museum in Springfield, Missouri, which rapidly became the most visited firearms venue in the country with annual visitation of over 250,000. He also managed the NRA Museums’ media and oversaw the conservation of the NRA firearms collection of over 10,000 firearms. Prior to that, Supica was a full time antique and collectible arms dealer for nearly two decades as founder and president of Old Town Station, Ltd., selling firearms through his Old Town Station Dispatch mail order catalog.
Collection