Auction News Network

Gallantry Medal From Bunker Hill Battle

The British “won” the Battle of Bunker Hill in June, 1775, but it cost them dearly, 100 commissioned officers killed, and not much to show for the victory, but there were still medals to be awarded. The silver “gallantry medal” from King George III given to 21-year old Capt. Peter Ewing of the Royal Marines will be auctioned in June (fittingly enough) by Heritage. High estimate is $70,000.

$200,000 Expected For Buffalo Bill Revolver

Frontiersman, and showman Buffalo Bill Cody had a number of guns, but probably none can surpass the provenance of his Civil War-issue Remington New Model Army .44 percussion revolver that Heritage will auction as part of a Wild West sale on June 10.  The revolver, estimated at more than $200,000, comes with a note Cody wrote to his friends Charles and Carrie Trego, when he gave them the gun for Christmas in 1906:  “This old Remington revolver. I carried and used for many years in Indian Wars and Buffalo killing. And it never failed me. WF Cody Dec 13^th 1906.”

Colt’s 1st Cartridge Revolver At Rock Island

On December 1, 1871, Colt presented an engraved, nickel-plated revolver to one Lewis Sheldon, who’d been Colt’s bookkeeper and paymaster.  A version of the company’s 1861 Navy revolver, it was Colt’s first cartridge revolver. With its cylinder roll-engraved with a Texas Navy battle scene, the pistol bears the serial number 1. Remarkably, it’s been in the original owner’s family for the past 141 years. Rock Island didn’t release a public estimate for the pistol, which indicates the auction house expects an explosive price at its April 20th-22^nd sale in Illinois.

Update: The 1861 Colt sold for $368,000.

$80,000 Expected For Iron Man 2 Suit

A suit from the movie, “Iron Man 2,” will be sold at a Chicago Heritage Auction, April 14. Robert Downey, Jr., the real Iron Man, never wore the suit, Don Cheadle swiped it so the government could duplicate it and fight crime like Downey. In reality, the 6-foot suit for sale is not iron, it’s fiberglass and filled with wires, hoses, and cables. High estimate is $80,000.

Dueling Pistols From A King’s Aide

Lt. Col Alexander Ross (1742-1827), aide to George III, didn’t use this set of handsome silver-mounted 28-bore flintlock pistols for combat. Presumably, he used other weaponry during engagements in India, Europe, and America, where he served as Aide-de-Camp to Cornwallis, a key British commander in the Revolutionary War. Instead, these pistols were meant for dueling. When Bonhams offers them on April 18^th in its Antique Arms  & Armour sale in London, they’re expected to realize $47,000-$62,700.

$38.3m For Famed Milhous Collection

Over the years, there may have been more valuable collections than the one assembled by the Milhous brothers, but there were few more idiosyncratic. Its core consisted of vintage automobiles and mechanical musical instruments, but it also included such rarities as a full-blown carousel with 42 animals, and a 1920 peanut and popcorn machine once pulled by two horses. This past weekend it all sold at an auction joint hosted by RM and Sotheby’s for $38.3m. Highest price item: a 1912 Oldsmobile Limited Five Touring classic that fetched $3.3m, a new world auction record for an Oldsmobile.

Bonnie & Clyde’s Guns In Missouri Auction

Agents who raided the Joplin hideout of Bonnie and Clyde didn’t make out very well. Two police officers were killed in the 1933 shootout, and the legendary outlaws got away, along with the rest of their crew. They left two guns behind, however, along with a camera whose film, when developed, provided the first photographs of the folk heroes. On January 21, a Kansas City auctioneer will offer the Thompson sub-machine gun and 1897 Winchester shotgun, for which no estimates were offered.

Update: The guns sold for $210,000.

Teddy Roosevelt’s Colt Pistol

When Theodore Roosevelt said, “Speak softly and carry a big stick,” he may have had his 1902 semi-automatic pistol in mind. Colt presented him with the gun, engraved in gold with ‘T.R.,’ when he was President. Rock Island will offer the pistol, along with Roosevelt’s personal correspondence related to it, at its Illinois auction on Dec. 2-4, when it’s expected to sell for $150,000-$225,000.

UPDATE: T.R.’S Colt pistol sold near the high estimate, for $207,000.

A Bully Colt Pistol Owned By TR

Theodore Roosevelt was a fanatic hunter with a veritable war chest of guns, including a “one of a kind,” factory presentation, 1902 Colt semi automatic pistol with TR’s initials in solid gold. It’s just one of 600 Colts at the sale, including collector Bill Neal’s most complete collection of Coltwoodsmans ever assembled.

Top Dollar Expected For Saddam’s Bottom

It’s not, as they say, for everyone. The bronze buttock from the statue of Saddam Hussein famously topped after U.S. troops invaded Baghdad in 2003 will be auctioned at Hansons in Derby, England. The two-foot wide chunk was” liberated” from the statue by Nigel “Spud” Ely, a former soldier from Britain. It’s expected to realize about $15,400 at the October 27^th auction.

Christie’s Enigma

During World War II, the Germans believed they had an unbeatable ciphering device in the Enigma machine. They were wrong: A British team of cryptologists, linguists, scientists and data analysts were able to break it, turning the war’s tide and very likely shortening it. Christie’s will sell one of these three-rotor Enigmas that was used by the Germans on September 29^th in London, where it’s expected to bring $47,130-78,550.

Update: The Enigma machine soared to $208,000, almost three times its high estimate.

Rare Colt Targets $900,000

Few examples of the Texas Paterson Colt revolvers were produced. Some have vanished as a result of “hard use,” Most of the remaining guns are in museum collections, including those of New York’s Metropolitan Museum, The New-Work Historical Society, the Smithsonian, and the Autry, among others. The example that Heritage will be offering on September 18 in Dallas features a rare configuration, with roundback cylinder, six silver band inlays, and a scalloped German silver escutcheon inlay on the case lid. It’s estimated at $700,000-$900,000.

Update: the Texas Paterson revolver sold for $977,500, exceeding estimates.

VERY Rare New Zealand Cross To Be Sold

As in the American Indian wars of the 19^th Century, battles between European settlers and native Maoris were fought in New Zealand. One of the colonial bush fighters was Thomas Adamson. His courage was legendary, but they couldn’t award him a Victoria Cross because he wasn’t in the British Imperial army, so they invented the New Zealand Cross in 1869 and gave him the first one. That Medal will be auctioned in London on September 23. The high estimate is $100,000.

Now It’s The Wife’s Gun For Sale

From  Al Capone to Billy The  Kid, there’s a brisk market in photos and guns  that belonged to American gangsters and outlaws, but now Soldusa.com is auctioning a single shot, purse pistol Jesse James gave his wife, Zee, to commemorate the birth of their daughter. In the online bidding that ends next month, they’re hoping for a heist of $20,000.

Sporting Guns at Gavin Gardiner

For collectors of sporting guns, it’s hard to beat the cachet of those made by J. Purdey & Sons, Holland & Holland, EJ Churchill, and Boss & Co. Examples from all these makers will be represented at Gavin Gardiner’s auction in Scotland, to be held in collaboration with Sotheby’s on August 22. One of the offerings, however, is particularly special. It’s a Ken Hunt engraved 12-bore single trigger sidelock ejector over and under gun by J.Purdey & Sons that’s expected to sell for as much as $155,000.