Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Herb Houze
the modus operandi is peculiar to this antique arms business and offers an interesting insight into it. The general antique arms dealer of today—and most likely those of the future—normally conducts business along four parallel lines: he travels to the better known and larger gun shows throughout the country; he advertises some of his best pieces in one or two of the better known and widely circulated antique arms publications; he has a small gun room or showroom associated with his home and will allow visits by appointment only; and, with ever-increasing frequency maintains a Web site on the Internet.
GUN AUCTIONS: THEIR IMPACT AND INFLUENCE
The many changes that have taken place over the years in the manner in which business transactions are conducted are likely best illustrated by the changeable roles and variable influence of gun auctions. That role has made a noticeable about-face since my last comments about their decreasing importance in the 8th Edition. Perhaps recounting their fluctuating history may place them in clear perspective for the collector and best indicate that variable influence and importance.
It was only with the 4th Edition of this Guide, in 1987, that first notice was even given to the significance of gun auctions. Until that decade, they made but minor inroads in the manner by which antique firearms were bought and sold in this country; their influence on arms values was negligible. Auction prices were invariably inconsistent over the past decades, subject to so many influences that their role as reliable price criteria was minimal at best.
The popular press, and even the gun press, occasionally reported a record auction price but usually failed to reflect what general, or average, prices were for that very same item when bought and sold in the usual course of the hobby. The American market had not been auction-oriented as far as antique guns were concerned, in direct contrast to the British market which had been, and is, very auction dominated. Proof was obvious by the very lack of gun auction houses in America or auction houses scheduling regular and frequent arms sales. The few firms game to try either held them at lengthy intervals or dropped them as unsuccessful. Within the past few years the foothold earlier established by a few reputable auction houses has increased dramatically. The author’s prediction in earlier editions since 1987 that “... there is every likelihood that auctions will play an increasingly important role in the acquisition and disposition of antique arms ... may well portend the future” certainly was realized.
The following years of the 1980s through the mid-1990s witnessed the growth of a number of auction houses specializing in gun sales; at times becoming top-heavy. By the late 1990s I noted the growth of the auction market was in an “…unmistakable decline in both quality and quantity of arms attainable at auctions, i.e. those worthy of attracting attention and creating strong competitive bidding. Without such material, auctions are lackluster and so, too, are the prices realized.” Further comment noted the downward trend, clearly visible in merely reviewing the numerous auction catalogs then being issued in which “…even the illustrations are frequently of endless quantities of monotonous, undiversified material. Auctions will continue to play an important role in arms collecting, very much governed by the class of merchandise they make available.” The caption to that section of auction commentary said it all: “GUN AUCTIONS; THEIR DECREASING IMPORTANCE.”
How the tables have turned! These last six years since that 8th Edition have witnessed a significant change in the influence of that auction market and the firms that participate in it. Certainly, the most obvious indicator has been the many record-breaking prices achieved by a wide variety of models and types of antique American firearms, their levels of quality and /or rarity.
The proliferation of superbly assembled and printed, color illustrated auction catalogs, the likes of which have never been previously seen in this field represent a credit to the auction houses that issue them and to the antique arms community in general (and they certainly place generations of gun catalogs that preceded them in their shadow). This great change of pace was ostensibly brought about by those few auction houses that had the foresight (and good fortune) to acquire from consignees significant outstanding specimens of antique arms and make them available on a reasonably steady basis. With proper promotion and marketing they frequently achieved startling values. Widely reported in both the general and the antiques press, those exceptional prices were ostensibly the stimulus for owners of similar material to take advantage of what was developing into a really hot market; there was no doubt that it truly was just that. In their aftermath, a veritable flood of great material, the very best of their respective types emerged on the auction scene and so it has remained. It is important that the collector bears in mind that those record values were achieved by what are considered to have been the very top, the ne plus ultra, of their particular category of firearm and that those very same prices seldom transpose to even slightly lesser rarity, quality or condition levels of identical models. There is little doubt that the notoriety of those auction values has been favorable for the hobby. They have certainly been responsible for a remarkable turnaround for a number of auction houses. In order that the neophyte collector as well as the veteran gun trader not be carried away by the excitement of those record-breaking values, it bears repeating that they have seldom had relevance or influenced values on antique arms of the same types if anything less than the very best or the most rare.
A few words about auctions are in order here for the collector ... and the dealer. Auctions will continue successful only if they do not revert to their former common practices of taking everyone’s “cats and dogs” with protected prices, while allowing the very owners of those pieces to bid them up during the auction. These abuses were so flagrant that they colored the entire American gun auction market, with but a handful of notable exceptions. With reputations at stake, it has been observed that many houses have taken great precautions to keep their acts clean. When a legitimate collection has been offered at auction on a no-holds-barred basis, results have often been spectacular. Those results certainly attracted the attention of the collecting world and were equally noted by the auction houses themselves.
Many abuses to which auctions have been, and still are, subject will continue to be the major stumbling block to their success. An uncomfortable feeling exists when auction houses either own all the material themselves or have given healthy loans or advances towards the material they are about to auction. By the very nature of these actions there is an obvious conflict of interest. For instance, if the collector seeks the auction house’s advice, it is very difficult for the house to resist the temptation to push their own material instead of consignment items. The bidder enjoys greater peace of mind when the auction house has no vested interest.
A phenomenon peculiar to antique gun auctions that has been noticed by the author, is the lack of dealer “rings” or “pooling.” The practice is illegal, but one that has been rampant for many years in the antique auction business in both America and abroad. The “ring” consists of a number of dealers who have conspired to rig the bidding, electing one member of their group to bid openly and purchase an item against the general public, thereby assuring that the item never brings a fair, or top, price. The owner or consignor is cheated from realizing full value for the item while the auction house is likewise cheated from realizing a higher commission. Following the auction the “ring” meets furtively and re-auctions the piece among themselves (the “knockout”), splitting the realized profit among themselves in various proportions established beforehand. The author has never witnessed a dealer “ring” at work at an antique gun auction. Collectors and dealers have been found too independent and fiercely competitive ... which usually makes for a spirited auction! Of course, the possibility always exists for the exception to the rule. It is sincerely doubted that such tactics will make inroads in this particular field. The practice elsewhere has been quite vigorously prosecuted in recent years.
Auction galleries, in former years, were not the competitors to dealers that they have become today. Their increase in numbers has made acquisition of material by dealers considerably more difficult. A noticeable difference is the great emphasis by auction houses on “investment” and “profit” potential. Although dealers certainly are not immune to stressing that point, the more conservative will tend to downplay it. Auction galleries rarely have the time or expert personnel to advise or guide neophyte collectors as an experienced dealer might. For practical reasons many will not handle items below certain dollar values, which