Rock Island Auction - Get Ready to Drool

[Two Flints]

Hello SSS,

The Rock Island Auction just listed their current catalog, and I did a search for Spencer and this was the result:  Check out the link:

http://www.rockislandauction.com/search/aid/58

Scroll down and see their Spencer offerings

Two Flints

[Herbert]

The engraved Spencer carbine is interesting for the extra cutt-off(if that is what it is,I belive it is but have never seen anything like it befor),it also has the Spencer cutt-off

[Oregon Bill]

No. 3120 is one to watch.
I bought my Armi Sport from these folks last month.

[Herbert]

Lot 3134 is also very interesting ,probley will not make the estamate though

[Perseo]

I am new to the collecting world.  I look at the guns in the auction, by the hundreds, and wonder if buyers with money really show up in such force.  It would seem to require a huge pool of buying interest and liquidity to buy all of these guns at the estimated prices. 

Sure, at any given moment there must be some people who would like to own a nice Spencer, and there are some people that would like to sell a Spencer. 

My impression is that there are quite a few "garden variety" Spencer's out there that are mechanically solid, with dinged up wood and not much bluing left or case hardening in evidence, showing their age but because of the rugged design still a darn nice gun and usually shootable.  Asking prices seem to be $2000 and up, and the real "market" may be much less than that. 

The auction looks to me like a good place to sell an unusually great gun but maybe not that useful for selling a decent but unremarkable gun.

[Herbert]

These high end auctions oftern over estamate less spectacular items and under estamate high end items.The reason the the less spectacular items are usually part of a larger consinment with a couple of very special items in them,to get these items on the books the less desirable items have to be listed as well.You can oftern pick up the mor common items at these auctions at very resonable prices(well below low estamat)the high end items almost always go over high estamate as these are what these auctions are really about