Don't know if many of you pay attention to Rock Island Gun Auctions, but there are a few amazing guns listed in the May Premier Auction. Well out of my price range, but nice to see. Well worth a look.
Can't seem to get the correct link posted, sorry.

Eric

https://www.rockislandauction.com/c...on/1/?keywords=&submit_auction_76=Go

Lee

WOW … Incredible.

Steve

Saw these a few weeks ago and recognized some of them, all but two of the Savages are from the Wes Adams collection and were sold through James Julia in 2012. Here's the second chance to get these.....

RIA lot - Julia lot & price with premium

154 - 1182 $4600
155 - 1181 $5750
157 - 1151 $25300
158 - 1147 $9200
159 - xxxx not from JJ's auction
1111 - xxxx "" " """
1113 - 1124 $6900
1114 - 1100 $16100
3089 - 1137 $24150
3090 - 1147 $18400 (listed as serial 110082 at JJ's s/b 110080 as listed by RIA)
3091 - 1105 $12650

ADDED - here's the link to the James Julia catalog for anyone interested - https://www.morphyauctions.com/jamesdjulia I did phone bidding on some of the 22's, you can probably guess how I did since they are for sale again.

I was going to wait until the auction was over to post the old prices so a comparison could be done, but with this thread it seemed to make waiting a mute point.

Those 22's have been around before at a Julia auction. The 1914 is sweet and the first one made. Love that matted treatment on the frame.

Typing and looking at the same time Gene.

There are some unbelievable guns and "stuff" coming up at the next RIA auction.

I get their catalog and the pages are all stuck together from me drooling on it.

I have no ideas where they find this stuff.

Tanks, armored vehicles, MIG's, it's crazy...

The 45 is interesting. I like Super Sporters but I have to wonder why one would choose that platform for high end embellishments.

Did you read the accompanying factory letter?

The 45 is interesting, a loaner, advertisement, showpiece. I wonder who cut the chunk out of the stock for the receiver sight. Did that piss anyone off?
I love the levers, but find the 22s especially interesting. The embellishment on the Super Sporter doesn't surprise me as much as it does on the 03s.

Bottom line,
They are all really cool

Yes I did and unless I’m missing something the letter doesn’t answer the question as to why a 45 would have been chosen for such work, even if it involved high end outlets. It makes me wonder who the customer was. But regardless, crazier things have happened and it’s just another fancy gun, albeit on a hardware store platform.

Can one of you knowledgeable members help me? How can Lot No. 3091 be called an 1895 when the serial number is 40.243? Is this solely based on the barrel roll mark? The only round barreled 1895 here is a SRC which does not have the same roll mark...

Thoughts?

Thank you,

Doug

Yea, I'd call it a Model 1899 with 1895 part(s) rather than Model 1895 with 1899 parts.
I guess they had to pick something.

Here is the description when it went through James Julia - jamesdjulia/item/lot-1105-savage-model-1899 And both consider the Colt butt plate to be original even though in the Julia picture you can see remnants of stock stain & finish on the edges of the butt plate, not something I am used to seeing on an original gun.

Thanks for the responses! Still, my question remains. Where does "1895" come in? I'm no authority, but I don't see 1895 anywhere on it. Is that the roll mark for a round barrel 1895? I can't find a picture of a round barrel 1895, but I remember looking at them at the first Fest and I'm 99% sure that the two lines look just like the octagon barreled guns. Could it just be the bluing and engraving which is "similar to what Marlin would have used" quoting the Julia catalog?

And is it just me, or do the animals look like Disney characters? And that also goes for the four digit rifle which is obviously a real 1895. I'm trying not to get kicked out of here or offend anyone, just trying to educate myself.

Serial number has to 4 digit to be an 1895.

You can see that the engraving around the serial number is sized to fit the 5 digit number on the gun, that suggests to me that the engraving had to be done after the serial number was stamped and I would not think Savage had dealings with Marlin engravers at that time as Julia's description seems to suggest by mention "typical of one of Marlin’s engravers, probably Ulrich".

All 1895's have the words "Savage Repeating Arms Co..." in the barrel address.

Everything about it points to it being a 1899 !!!! serial number,barrel address, wood, i think they are a bit off with this discription. The other 1895 also has a cased reciever ,suprised that wasn't mentioned they only made around 100 cased colored 1895's. Don

Thanks fellas!

That seals it for me. Probably just a typo.

Doug

It's a good time to b a buyer.

How so? I'm always a buyer! Sometimes I'm a little too aggressive. Ask my wife...

Gene, That's interesting. I owned #1113 at one time. Pretty gun, didn't have the original sights, the lever casecolors were washed out and the hairline crack at the toe wasn't a hairline crack it was completely broken off at the time. The factory letters that come with it show a number of well known previous owners.

James Julia had it as an 1899... but made with some 1895 parts?

RIA lost most of the older experienced people they had doing descriptions and they also have almost to many guns than they can deal with (or actually do have to many). I go to the viewing all the time and many of their 'experts' now are quite young. I just bought three lots (15 guns total) from their on-line only auction at a fraction of what they would have brought if cataloged better in smaller lots. The on-line only auctions have a lot of junk, I knew the collector who's estate these were from, so I could sort the good from the bad. I watched some of the other lots sell and the buyers of those will not be very happy when they actually see them, in one lot all the guns were cold blued over pitting.

The family would have done far better putting these in a smaller local auction house, most now list on-line and they would do them individually, or in much smaller lots. I talked to a friend of the family this weekend and they said that many of his guns, mostly 22 rifles, had boxes and that RIA didn't take them so the family threw them away.

RIA also buys some of the lots themselves if they sell low, ... so a poor description could be changed when they go to sell them again..... and if they buy the lot they can subtract the 15%~20% commission instead of add the buyers premium.

In a parallel conversation, a buddy of mine who is an avid collector and fisher of bamboo fly rods has noticed a lot of nice rods languishing on eBay. I snagged one myself last month. Go figure...

Some good ones on the market, if that's your thing. Selling may not be good right now but the buying is top shelf.

The Savages are sold, for anyone interested, here are the comparisons of the Julia price to the RIA.

---- Lot’s ----------Price with premium
RIA – Julia ----- Julia --- RIA (with 15%) & description

154 - 1182 $4,600.00 - $7,475.00 First Production Savage Model 1914 Rifle
155 - 1181 $5,750.00 - $5,175‬.00 Factory Engraved Savage Model 1903 Slide Action Rifle
157 - 1151 $25,300.00 - $31,625.00 Savage Victor Grade Model 1899 Lever Action Rifle
158 - 1147 $9,200.00 - $9,200.00 Factory Engraved Savage Model 1899 Featherweight Rifle
159 - xxxx not from JJ's auction - Montreal Home Guard Savage Model 1899 Musket w/ Bayonet
1111 - xxxx "":" """ - Factory Engraved Savage Model 1903 Slide Action Rifle
1112 – 1178 $8,050.00 - $6,325‬.00 Factory Engraved Savage Model 1903 Slide Action Rifle
1113 - 1124 $6,900.00 - $16,100‬.00 /jamesdjulia/lot-1124 - https://www.proxibid.com/ Factory Engraved Savage Model 1899A Takedown Rifle 38-55
1114 - 1100 $16,100.00 -$31,625‬.00 jamesdjulia/lot-1100- - www.proxibid.com Factory Engraved/Inlaid Savage Model 1899 Featherweight Rifle 25-35
3089 - 1137 $24,150.00 -$25,875‬.00 Factory Engraved Savage Model 1895 Deluxe Rifle
3090 - 1147 $18,400.00 -$28,750‬.00 (listed as serial 11008'2' at JJ's s/b 110080) Factory F Grade Engraved Savage Model 1899 Takedown Carbine
3091 - 1105 $12,650.00 -$12,650.00 Factory Engraved Savage Model 1895 Deluxe Lever Action Rifle (not really an 1895)

Good lord, that's a lot of money!

Having said that, the good Winchester and Colt stuff was at least 2x.
And then there's this... Gustav Young

The cheapie in that bunch has a "low" bid of 9,000 bucks! Safe to say I will sit this one out..