Often these weekly articles are reserved for particularly special firearms, fascinating histories, or some combination of the two, but when walking around the warehouse of Rock Island Auction Company, sometimes it's difficult to choose just one. So for this week, I haven't chosen one; I chose a bunch! I thought I'd give a sneak peek into our warehouse so you can see the selection of jaw-dropping items we receive for each and every auction. The following pictures are items or sights that caught my eye from the last week or two. Let's get started, but first for those who have not yet seen how massive our production floor is, here are a few shots that should illustrate that.
 |
| This wide angle panorama STILL struggles to capture the entire floor. |
 |
| This covers most of the area behind the camera. Key word? Most. |
Fascinating Finds
This first batch of pictures are items that immediately made me walk over to them and get a closer look. I believe that anyone will find a few of them as fascinating as I do.
 |
| This is the rear shot of the gun shown immediately above. |
Four gorgeous butt caps from flintlock pistols in our facility
 |
| When you see three monster revolvers like this next to each other, you go over and take a look. |
 |
| Close up of the "barrel" on the previous photo. |
 |
| Gorgeous work on a flintlock pistol. |
 |
| A curious piece that is far too heavy for handheld use, despite what appears to be a grip on the rearmost portion. |
 |
| The rear of the above shown piece. Note the loading gate. |
 |
| Jack knife shown for scale. Very small Stinger pistols. |
 |
| That many mags protruding from the rack means a bunch of shooters are going to have some fun. |
Glimpse of the Production Floor
The next few pictures have been posted on the
"More Info" of our July Regional Auction page for some time, but I post them here in case some readers have not found or seen them yet. They show off the great number of modern firearms appearing in this auction, and most of these shown are only the racks of handguns. Just wait until you see some of the long arms!
 |
| There are literally dozens of racks like this. |
The best part is that these photos were only the most visually impressive ones - they are by no means even close to showing them all! There were also Glocks by the crate, Desert Eagles in a myriad of finishes, and... good grief, I can't even begin to describe them all. There were so many that we couldn't even fit them all into one auction. Meaning that if you like modern guns, the next few auctions will have a more than ample selection for you. Oh, and as promised, here are some of the long arms.
To be fair, there are 3 more aisles like the one shown immediately above. Oh and I didn't even count how many racks look like the photos below. They're a clear indication that collectors will have an excellent selection of shotguns, rifles, antiques, C&R, military arms, and hunting pieces for some time to come.
The sheer volume of firearms in our July Regional Firearms Auction is boggling, the variety of firearms in upcoming auctions is astonishing, and the remaining sales of 2014 from Rock Island Auction Company should have the full attention of every single collector and investor of firearms, edged weapons, and military artifacts. This article focused mainly on the immense number of guns, some fascinating oddities, and the ornamentation on several antique pistols. What has not been covered, and what will likely earn their own articles in coming weeks, are several genres: historic pieces with ties to the Civil War, Old West, and strong military provenance, exquisite antiques, stunning U.S. & German military arms, and of course the jaw-dropping high dollar investment grade collector firearms that people around the world have come to expect from RIAC. Stay tuned collector friends! You'll be glad you did.
 |
| An upcoming item for sale. Absolutely gorgeous! |
All very interesting. Why don't you say what the pieces are and when they will be up for sale?
ReplyDeleteSteven - I would love to, however many times we will change which auction an item will appear in if we feel it will help bring the consignor more money. While right now we have an idea of which auction they will go in, that could change.
DeleteAlso, many of these items are so early in the process that they have not been given an official description by our team of describers. They're the ones that perform much of the research you see in the item descriptions inside our catalogs. If those were finalized, I would be more than happy to provide that info as it would benefit both potential collectors and the consignors.