The guns of the lone Confederate president, a legendary author, the Union “Mover of Armies” and a Montana frontiersman are among Rock Island Auction’ top 10 list of iconic firearms sold in 2023 as the auction house took a bold leap, opening its Bedford, Texas location and earning more than $102 million for the year, the third-straight year the company has surpassed the $100 million mark.

5 (tie), Cased Deluxe Engraved Colt Model 1851 Revolver, $352,500 (August)

The beauty and condition of a gun can often carry it beyond whatever history it may hold. This amazing Colt Model 1851 Navy is one of those exemplary pieces that transcend firearms. This gun was made for a special purpose with Samuel Colt’s involvement, given that it is only known Model 1851 with a gold-plated grip frame and early factory engraving and deluxe walnut grip with high gloss finish.

From the Greg Lampe Collection, this revolver and its beauty are well known, having been featured in The Colt Engraving Book Volumes 1 and 2, by R.L. Wilson, Dennis Adler’s “Colt Single Action from Paterson to Peacemakers,” and “Colt 1851 Navies and 1861 Navies, by Robert M. Jordan. The feather-like engraving is “early Hartford” style consistent with revolvers attributed to Thomas J. Barlow in the early 1850s. This brilliant revolver retained 95 percent of its high polish blue finish, case colors and original gold plating for what would be a prized piece in any collection.

This impressive Colt Model 1851 Navy with gold-plated grip frame and trigger guard realized $352,500 in the August Premier Auction.

5 (tie), Colt Model 1883 Gatling Gun with Pedestal, $352,500 (December)

This government inspected Gatling gun with its Accles drum magazine is a fine example of an iconic 19th century American gun that a precursor to the machine guns of the 20th century. The sight of its multiple muzzles was enough to discourage mobs and repel armies around the world. The rate of fire on these amazing guns is dependent on how quickly the operator could rotate the crank. This is an excellent example of firearms evolution.

This Colt Model 1883 Gatling Gun realized $352,500 in the December Premier Auction.

4 (tie), World War 2 Three-digit Serial Number Krieghoff FG42 Type 1, $411,250 (May)

Developed at the special order of Luftwaffe commander-in-chief Hermann Goering, the Fallschirmjaegergewehr (paratrooper rifle) was intended as a universal weapon for airborne troops that could provide the suppressive fire of a machine gun yet agile enough to replace the submachine gun while also serving as a sniper rifle with the addition of a scope. The FG42 would lead to the full-powered battle rifles that came of age during the Cold War. Though never used for a large scale parachute drop, the FG42 was observed on the Western Front.

This gun bears the serial number 190 on multiple components and has a set of Luftwaffe “droop wing eagle” inspection/acceptance proofs. It retains 70 percent of its black enamel finish overall, is mechanically excellent and is the pinnacle of any advanced German military firearms collection that drew plenty of interest at auction.

Made specifically for German airborne troops in World War 2, this FG42 achieved $411,250 in the May Premier Auction.

4 (tie), Cased 1855 dated Gastinne-Renette dueling pistols, $411,250 (December)

Squirrels battling snakes, beetles, monkeys and lizards are just a few of the opulent details on this fantastic pair of pistols that are more high art than firearm. These pistols have so many intricate details they can be looked at endlessly. They have extensive leafy vine scroll engraving and chiseling in raised relief that cover much of the guns and its furniture. The ebony stocks are also finely carved.

These pistols were submitted for the Exposition Universelle of 1855 to show off French artistry and industry.  Despite their brilliance and beauty, these pistols have been little seen in decades, having last changed hands in the 1960s, so when the opportunity to acquire them arose, interest was high and resulted in spirited bidding.

4 (tie), Cased 1902 “GL” Luger Presentation DWM Carbine for Hugo Borchardt, $411,250 (December)

Gun designer Hugo Borchardt had designed the perfect gun – in his mind. He refused to make changes at DWM’s request so Georg Luger was asked to step in and change the design. That ignited the animosity between the two that lasted the rest of their lives. Despite that, this Luger Carbine with a gold inlay was presented to Borchardt.

This gun is mentioned on two occasions in articles by Luger scholar Charles Kenyon Jr. in “The Gun Report.” The 1902 Luger Carbine has rare “GL” monogram initials, indicating that Luger himself inspected or presented it, on the rear of the rear toggle link. A large gold “B” is inlaid atop the receiver in front of the ejection port. This gun offered another opportunity for a German gun collector or someone who is a Luger collector to get their hands on a fascinating piece of firearms history.

3 (tie), Zane Grey’s Engraved and Gold Inlaid Winchester Model 1895 Rifle, $440,625 (May)

One of the most prolific chroniclers of the American frontier and its landscape, Zane Grey started life as a dentist only to go west in 1906 to mythologize and romanticize the American West. Six years later, “Riders of the Purple Sage,” was a runaway success. An avid outdoorsman, he hunted, fished and shot, all while writing 60 Western novels, nine novels about fishing and several short story collections.

Calling it “the greatest rifle ever built,” Grey sought out a Winchester chambered in .30-06 for a fall hunt in 1919, ordering from four different companies, including Winchester, but none had one in stock. Grey would write, “The upshot of this deal was that, when after months I despaired of getting any, they all sent me a rifle at the same time. So I found myself with four, all the same caliber of course, but of different style and finish.”

One of the rifles received by Grey he described as “beautifully engraved and inlaid with gold.” Famous handgunner Elmer Keith saw the rifle, writing that it was inlaid with Grey’s name on the left side of the receiver. The factory engraving by John Ulrich includes gold inlaid borders, and gold inlaid depictions of a deer, grizzly bear and mountain lion. The receiver, upper tang, bolt, takedown collar, hammer, lever, barrel breech, and buttplate are engraved with arabesque scrollwork and artistic borders. The walnut stock has relief carved scroll and vine designs. This beautifully embellished gun evokes romantic notions of the American frontier and was used by a true poet of the West.

3 (tie), Winchester Model 1886, $440,625 (December)

This spectacular rifle, with its engraving and gold inlays by John Ulrich, was shipped to Texas entrepreneur J.W. Flanagan, after serving as a well-traveled factory exhibition gun that showed off the master engraver’s artistry. The gun is chambered in .33 Winchester with a half magazine takedown configuration. It has a fancy pistol grip stock with style “A” carving and a hard rubber shotgun butt. The inlays, bull and cow elk, a mountain lion, bear, and moose’s head on the receiver, are an impressive 297 grains of gold. Gold inlaid bands appear on the muzzle and breech as well as numerous gold borders.

A factory letter states that the engraving was indeed done by Ulrich and that it was displayed at various World’s Fairs and international and American exhibitions and shared with important dealers for display. The gun was sold to James Wainwright Flanagan who struck it rich with ore mining operations in Mexico. He also had business ties throughout Lain America and connections to the Canada-based British American Oil Company. His Canadian estate was known for its opulent furniture and furnishings and this rifle matches those lavish tastes.

This magnificent Winchester Model 1886 engraved by Master Engraver John Ulrich achieved $440,625 in the December Premier Auction.

2 (tie), Jefferson Davis’ Captured Beaumont-Adams Double Action Revolver, $470,000 (August)

Confederate President Jefferson Davis, his wife, and most of his cabinet were on the run in April 1865, making their way south, away from Richmond and the Union forces. By May, Davis’s traveling party was shrinking and on May 6 he learned that his wife’s party had passed their location not much ahead of them. Davis and several men rode through the night to find his wife the next day. He chose to stay with his wife despite it being slower than the small group he’d been traveling with.

The Confederate president and his traveling party, now including his wife, Varina, were captured May 10 after a skirmish that resulted in two Union deaths from friendly fire. At his surrender, Davis handed over a silver-plated and highly engraved Beaumont-Adams double action revolver to Corporal John Hines, of the 4th Michigan Cavalry that captured Davis. John Hines was killed shortly after in that friendly fire skirmish with soldiers from a Wisconsin unit. The gun was given to his brother Edwin who also served in the 4th Michigan.

The presentation gun from British gunmaker Robert Adams to Davis and is similar to and close in serial numbers to revolvers also given to Stonewall Jackson, whose was blued, and a third that was presented to Robert E. Lee. The revolver has a dovetailed front sight, fixed notch rear sight, silver-plated finish and checkered walnut grip. This most significant of Confederate artifacts has fine English engraving that includes a braided border design at the muzzle, the front of the cylinder and trigger guard. Floral designs surround screws while the gun has classic scroll engraving and lined borders. This was a singular opportunity to obtain a magnificent and highly embellished piece of Civil War history that had been in the Hines family until 2018.

2 (tie), C Company No. 12 Colt Model 1847 Walker Percussion Revolver, $470,000 (December)

Everyone knows the tale of the Walker revolver: born from the Colt Paterson with key improvements offered to Samuel Colt by Col. Samuel Walker of the Texas Rangers. This revolver is among the first 200 distributed to Walker’s unit, seeing action in the Mexican American War and possibly even the Civil War. Colt expert Herb Glass described this Colt as “in very fine condition,” and “As the earliest example this writer has had the pleasure of examining (just the twelfth gun produced), we can be certain that it arrived in Vera Cruz in the first shipment and saw service."

This Walker was featured in the famous 50th anniversary “Parade of Walkers’ display organized by the Texas Gun Collectors Association in 2003. This gun came from the collection of Greg Lampe and is an outstanding example of the Colt Walker and an extraordinary piece of Texas history.

This C Company No. 12 Colt Model 1847 Walker revolver realized $470,000 in the December Premier Auction.

1 (tie), L.B. Parsons’ Cased and Engraved Colt Model 1860 Army revolvers, $528,750 (August)

This spectacular pair of firearms are best known simply by their nickname, the Parsons’ Armies, as they have been in some of the finest collections over the decades and were offered publicly for the first time in Rock Island Auction’s August Premier Auction, where they crossed the podium for $528,750.

The guns were presented from Philo Parsons to his younger brother, Union Col. Lewis B. Parsons who later became brigadier general and served as Chief of Rail and River Transportation, earning the nickname “Mover of Armies” for his masterful logistics of moving troops and supplies during the Civil War. After the war Lewis Parsons worked as a businessman in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri before he and his brothers founded Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa. These revolvers were in the school’s collection for many years.

While Parsons is a significant figure in the success of the Union forces in the Civil War, the astonishing condition of these guns are what make them so remarkable. Firstly, they are an incredibly rare example of a matched, consecutive pair of Colt Model 1860 Army revolvers with nearly the highest level of engraving available. The classic Germanic scroll and floral engraving begins at the muzzles flow around the front sights and along the sides of the barrels and around the barrel address, to the flats of the loading levers, all of the frames and onto the grips and hammers. The pair’s condition is phenomenal as the markings and inscription remain crisp and the gun’s finish retains nearly all the vibrant case colors on the loading lever, hammer and frame. This pair of remarkable revolvers – with its documentation, provenance, history and condition -- is an opportunity that comes along once in a lifetime for a collector.

1 (tie), Thomas Stuart’s One of One Thousand, $528,750 (December)

Granville Stuart wanted the Winchester One of One Thousand for himself and his brother Thomas to be absolutely correct, rejecting the first two rifles sent because they didn’t meet his specifications and expectations. Granville Stuart wrote, “The two 1 of 1000 rifles order by me arrived in good order but I am disappointed in them because you did not send such as I ordered, nor do you give any explanation why you did not follow the terms of the order.”

After back and forth correspondence on at least three occasions, the guns that Stuart received for himself and his brother were loaded with extras. They had “Third Style” barrel inscriptions, an octagon barrel, set trigger, checkered stock, Vernier peep and wind gauge sights and a, casehardened finish. The rifle is engraved “Thomas Stuart/1875” on the left side plate. It also has an inlaid silver band at the muzzle, a dovetailed brass blade front sight, an adjustable sporting rear sight, floral finials on top of the barrel, as well as an inlaid silver band, scroll engraving on the receiver and around the checkered oval “thumbprint” on the dust cover.  The foreend and buttstock are checkered and the buttstock’s walnut is exceptionally figured.

Granville and Thomas Stuart were Montana pioneers at a time when the law was loosely interpreted and often had to be taken into one’s own hands. Granville Stuart was known as leader of the vigilante gang, Stuart’s Stranglers, while Thomas hewed to the straight and narrow, serving as a lawman, serving as Deer Lodge’s night marshal for a decade. Despite the hard work of law enforcement on the frontier, Thomas Stuart’s One of One Thousand retained 90 percent of its original blue finish and was a spectacular gun to attain at auction.

What a List!

The top 10 guns (actually 11) of 2023 offered a variety of history, beauty and condition, from the American Civil War to the strained business dealings of Georg Luger and Hugo Borchardt, pistols that are truly art unto themselves, to the death-dealing FG42 of World War 2. Thank you to consignors and buyers alike for trusting us to present these guns that resulted in $102 million for 2023, RIAC’s third consecutive year to top $100 million. We can’t wait to see what 2024 brings.