RIAC posts $7.3 million in sales at Regional Firearms Auction

The 2016 February Regional Firearms Auction was the largest event to date in Rock Island Auction Company’s history. With 9,000+ firearms and over 4,400 lots, the company had to add an extra day to the auction. By the end of the auction it had nearly 22,000 sealed bids and many more live bids and telephone bid. When the dust finally settled the sale had realized total of $7.3 million.

First day highlights included: housed a Steyr Schwartzlose Model 07/12 mounted on its tripod, which wold for $14,950; and DEWAT German MP3008 submachine gun, one of the “last ditch” weapons of the Third Reich, which brought $12,650.

LOT547 - Steyr Schwartzlose Model 07/12 Machine Gun with Tripod

Colt revolvers sold strong on the second day, with a Model 1871-1872 Open Top with an eagle carved grip bringing $5,750; a Single Action Army in lteamed up with a stunning tooled holster rig to bring $4,025; and a pair SVT-38 and SVT-40 semi-automatic Soviet rifles were bid to $4,600.

LOT2290 - Colt Model 1871-72 Open Top Revolver with Factory Letter and Eagle Carved Grip

Day 3 was led by a high number of strong performing Winchsters and pre-Winchesters. One of those was a framed UMC “bullet board” that brought $6,900.

LOT4117 - Sharps Model 1869 Sporting Rifle with Factory Letter

On the final day two Civil War revolvers reached $5,750. German handguns also got in on the act, with two scarce semi-autos selling for $4,025.

All in all, it was a record setting weekend on many different levels: number of sealed bids, number of lots, and a new record realized total for our Regional Auctions. Winchester and Henry lever actions abounded and provided collectors with unheard of opportunities, but thankfully never at the expense of other genres.