doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Questions for Auction House

If you're interested in bidding on a gun at an auction, and can't get to the location to inspect the firearm, assuming the auction house is willing to respond to inquiries but will limit its examination of the consignment to a visual inspection, what are appropriate questions to ask? I assume, for the barrels, wall thickness, absence of any dents, bulges and pitting, condition of the blueing and extent of any rust, for the stock, the condition of the checkering and the finish, absence of any cracks, chips or splintering, whether it has been refinished or repaired, and for the action, how much case coloring is left/extent of any tarnishing or rust, how far to the right the top lever is at close, any mechanical issues detectable by opening and closing. And where would you draw the line between a visual and a mechanical inspection?

Always ask if all numbers match, the EXACT length of the barrels, and the LOP.

If you have to ask most of those questions it might not be an auction house you want to buy from.

Most of the good firearms auction houses provide that information.

I have purchased from most of the large auction companies and many of the small ones. Just expect its not going to be as nice as the description and you might need to put a little money in it.

Remember they are handling a massive amount of guns to describe in their catalog so, fast and quick, they can and do miss things.

John Boyd
Quality Arms

That's a good list of questions for sure. Holt's will do a detailed inspection at your request for a small fee. If you are serious about the gun that is a wise investment.

You might also look for a description guarantee in the auction house’s general information. I worked for Poulin Auctions (and still consign for them as well as Guyette and Deeter from time to time) and we took pride in guaranteeing our descriptions. A couple of other houses have followed suit from what I understand. The guarantee’s benefit is twofold: it ensures you are protected on your purchase and it ensures that the descriptions are as accurate as possible. Some auction houses hire general writers to generate their copy while others hire real gun guys - it makes a huge difference.

Poulin is a good example of a dedicated gun auction site that provides most, if not all, of the information that a person needs. I've purchased a number of guns from Poulin and with one minor exception the description was very accurate.

The exception was a SxS that had the rear stock sling hole filled and the front sling mount and its screws were missing. Neither was mentioned in the description, but that's certainly not a deal breaker and I've been very happy with the gun.

I just made my first purchase from Poulin, a Clabrough & Bros.10 bore SLE from 1896. When I bought it, I thought I would have to extend the stock and open up the chokes, but upon receiving the gun I was delighted to find that the auction description was way off: the LOP is 3/4" longer than listed and the chokes are.033", not the .059" they stated. It fits me perfectly and patterns as I want, so all is well.

I'm glad you are happy with the auction win, but it's telling that Poulin can't measure any better than that. Are you absolutely sure they mis-measured the chokes and the LOP?

Yep, I re-measured several times. Also, I later found that the gun had been sold some years ago by Heritage Guns in England (Toby Barclay) and the write up is still on their website, with the same measurements that I got.