There was a small regional auction today and the prices amazed me. A 28-2, S prefix, in ex cond brought $1650. A pre-27 3.5 inch brought $2525. A 66-2 in ex cond brought $975. A 19-2 snub brought $1100.

It wasn't just the Smiths. Ruger Speed-Six's were around $1,000 and Security Sixes were all over $500. A Diamond Back 4 inch was $1700 and most Pythons were all around the $3k mark if not higher. A Korth 357 with 3 inch barrel went for $8,000. However, the big boy was a Singer 1911 that went for $29,000.

Sounds like some people were caught in a bidding frenzy.

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Pine_Worker
Ex-LEO, NRA Life

Get a bunch of gun nuts in a room with pockets stuffed with cash, and you're sure to get a bidding war going when the auctioneer yells "what'll I get for this....."

In a similar vein, watch a Mecum car auction sometime when the C1 and C2 Corvettes hit the block.

Unfortunately that doesn't sound out of whack for higher condition guns these days.

I'm surprised the Singer went that low. The last four I watched went for a median price of $75,289, with a high of $108,800.

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Alden
Guns N' Rosés

The last Singer I saw went for $414K plus the buyers premium at a RIA auction in December, 2017.

I knew these Singer-made 1911's were fairly rare, but didn't realize just how rare they were, and wondered why they would bring 6-figure prices.

Here's an article for those, like me, who couldn't understand why they were (are) so valuable. There were only 500 made.

The Holy Grail of 1911s: Taking a look at the Singer 1911A1 :: Guns.com.

Tools and guns are the last to go at auctions. People that hung around all day watching 1970s furniture and worn clothing being auctioned are determined to leave with something after wasting so much time. I might hang around until the first gun goes up and if the mood of the bidders is determined, I hit the road. Cold, rainy and miserable days are when I'm going to stick it out.

This was a guns only auction

Thats the lowest transaction price I’ve ever seen for a singer. Two summers ago one went up at $40k no reserve and hammered at $84k five days later if I recall correctly.

It always struck me as odd that Singer's 500 units dwarfs North American Arms 100 units from 1918, yet the NAAs go for significantly less on average.

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Alden
Guns N' Rosés

Definitely the case where there was something WRONG with that particular Singer or a whole bunch of folks had no idea what the market is and someone scored big.

As for the North American, there is a gentleman that sets up at OGCA that displays one, it isn’t for sale. And you are correct, they don’t approach the price of the Singer as they were not issued. Probably a tough pill for the folks that own them.

You guys inspired me to do some research on the "Singer". There are 3 pages of comments about it on the 1911 forum already. The consensus is that it is a fake and a bad one.

Was this a Sullivan auction? My friend buys stuff from them and usually gets pretty good prices. He recently got a SS 44 rifle for around $150.

Bauer auction out of Mattoon, IL

Did you say, a small regional auction?

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Mike 2796
SoFo Bunch member

I used that term because they do not advertise nationwide and on the net like the 2 or 3 BIG auction houses.

A friend goes to a gun auction every month at an auctionhouse in his area. First they sell "Smalls" (ammo, scope, optics, leather gear and reloading stuff) for about 2 hours. Then the guns are sold around 200-250 in two hours or so. Then back to whatever "Smalls" are left. All the guns go for at least $100-200 over what you can buy them on GunBroker. The Ammo sells for more than it does in stores. Frenzy???

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.