This just in....

Rock Island Auction Company Shatters Industry World Record with 
47 Million Dollars in Annual Sales and Is, Once Again, the
#1 Firearms Auction Company in the World for the Ninth Consecutive Year!

Rock Island Auction Company would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to both our consignors and buyers for once again making RIAC the top firearms auction company in the World. “It is with great pride and humility we, as an auction team, were able to achieve such monumental success in 2012,” said Patrick Hogan, President and CEO of Rock Island Auction Company. “The results we were able to achieve are nothing short of astonishing,” chimed Judy Voss, Vice President of RIAC who has been with the company since its conception. “In 2010 we thought we had done the impossible by posting an annual sales total of just over 32 million dollars. What we did this year is truly unprecedented; not only did we break our record, we decimated it and by over 15 million dollars, we truly rewrote the book,” said Voss. In an ever increasingly competitive marketplace, Rock Island Auction not only continues to grow but they continue to thrive. Hogan can point to a number of contributing factors that explain RIAC’s growth and continued success, but the common denominator falls back on the staff of RIAC.

“In a given year we will sell anywhere from 18,000-20,000 firearms which means our staff first must find the product, process the product, and find the market for the product,” said Hogan. The estimated 18,000-20,000 firearms all require individual descriptions while the RIAC photographers are challenged to take some 100,000 photographs per year. The end result is what many consider the finest auction catalog in the industry which is followed unequivocally by the strongest and most comprehensive marketing campaign in the business. “At the end of the day I am confident that I have the finest auction team in the world” said Hogan.

The success of RIAC in 2012 was not by mistake or chance, but rather was the result of a number of true lifetime collections RIAC was entrusted to sell which included: The Gateway Collection, The Michael Barrett Collection, The Howard “Doc” Janecek Collection, The William Ashby Collection, The Anthony Urbanowski Smith & Wesson Collection, and the estate of world class Colt Firearms dealer Bobby Smith, to name a few. “We consider ourselves to be extremely fortunate to be able to offer these collections back to the market place. It’s a tremendous success for us as a company to secure one of these collections in a given year let alone all of them” said Hogan. Notable sales for the year include an original 16 inch Colt “Buntline Special” estimated at $325,000-$475,000 which commanded a world record price of $546,250, an original Half Octagon Half Round Winchester “1 of 1000” estimated at $275,000-$450,000 realized $402,500,   Serial Number 1 Exhibition Engraved and Cased Colt Navy Cartridge Revolver Presented by Colt to Lewis Sheldon Colt Paymaster During the Civil War rang the bell at $368,000, and an Outstanding Factory Cased Gold Plated and Relief Engraved SA Viktor Lutze Presentation Walther Model PP Pistol estimated at $70,000-$120,000 realized a staggering $241,500.

As 2012 draws to a close RIAC promises to hit the ground running in 2013 with their first of three Premiere auctions scheduled for early May.  “This year we did the unthinkable,” said Hogan, “but don’t think my staff is content with these results for a single year-- who knows, next year we could shoot for 50!”