Auctions are always fun to poke around in, wishing you had the money to buy some of those cool things. For some reason there seems to be a lot of Civil War stuff on the block lately.
[Full Disclosure: Other than having bought a few items from Heritage I have no connection with any of these houses.]
Rock Island Auction has a nice blog entry about the evolution of the Henry rifle. I’ve mentioned it as well but this is a much more detailed look at the business end of things and the principals involved. One thing that comes through quite clearly is that while Oliver Winchester might not have known much about firearms (he started out in shirts) he was a very savvy businessman.
Their Civil War arms are listed here, but I thought the 1864 Henry worthy of mention. As you can see they fetch high prices.
Heritage Auctions in Dallas has a couple of auctions of interest. One is a Civil War and Militaria auction that has a lot of things like carte de visites of luminaries like Robert E. Lee, George Custer, and other generals; surgical instruments, drums, flags, and much more.
There is also an Arms and Armor auction coming up with numerous Civil War arms and accoutrements, including several rare Henrys.
A Legends of the Wild West auction has photos of Civil War personalities William Quantrill, Bloody Bill Anderson, Jo Shelby and Jesse James.
And finally an Americana auction that features several photos of Abolitionist John Brown, as well the leg shackles he wore during his incarceration at Charles Town prior to his execution.
UPDATE: Forgot to mention that there are also two complete (and working) period Gatling guns for sale. Just the thing for keeping the zombies at bay.
Leave a Reply