The Auction Experience
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ROCK ISLAND AUCTION COMPANY
A lifelong antique-firearms collector from Corpus Christi, Texas, peered down the barrel of a silver-and-gold-inlaid Winchester Model 12 with a Monte Carlo stock. He was making a last-minute pass through the gun-filled preview hall on day one of the Rock Island Auction Company’s big September event in Rock Island, Illinois. Bidding was about to commence at the three-day firearms auction.
“I learned to appreciate guns from my uncle, a carver of stocks who lived in Austin,” the collector said, the gleam of nostalgia in his eye mirroring the glow of burled walnut. “My first gun was a Model 12,” though nothing as fine as the exhibition-quality gem braced against his
