UC Colt Revolver at Miller and Miller Auctions

Fitz

Fitz

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If you are not familiar with them, Miller & Miller Auctions are a high end auction company in New Hamburg ON that has several specialty auctions throughout the year in canadiana, antiques, paintings, collectibles etc. Today was their firearms and sporting goods sale. Old fishing gear, old Ontario gunsmith made rifles and shotguns, Winchesters and some old Colt revolvers.
Some of the revolver prices seemed near the estimated value and near what I have seen as actual sale prices in the market. But holy crap, one item stood out as unbelievable. They had a very nice UC Colt revolver from the Frontenac area with presale estimate of $5000-$7000 which seemed reasonable. Would you believe the final sale price was $24000 plus 15% buyers premium $3600 plus possibly 15% Ontario sales tax for a grand total of $31,188. I guess the rich can just keep bidding until they win. Will be interesting to see what the UC Colt at Switzers goes for in the the next sale.........
 
I first met Don Blythe, whose collection was in this auction, about 50 years ago. Maybe 20 years ago that I last visited him. One gun that I inspected at his house, which was not in the auction, was a Colt Patterson revolving carbine. There were other pieces not in the sale; perhaps he had sold them. He had a Tom Thompson painting.
Too bad the UC Colt in Switzers had the UC markings removed from the grip.
 
I’m not surprised at some of the prices. I can’t say anything about UC-marked Colt revolvers, but whenever a serious collector’s pieces come up at auction, often the result of many decades of searching and selection, take note. These are often the kinds of items that you will never see again.
 
Was indeed a once-in-a-lifetime type of auction, many things I'd never even heard of before and may never see again. Lots of it sold too steep for what I could justify for single items. Tried to grab the cased Maynard set but almost immediately after I got a single bid in the price jumped $3000+....guess someone wanted it more than I did!

Also saw the carrier pigeon decoy that sold for over $10,000 with fees/taxes!!!!
 
Almost 50 years ago, I was at a gunshow, and there was a prize for the best antique shotgun. I entered my (probably Canadian) gunsmith made market hunters gun. Pair of Brown Bess barrels, Long Land pattern buttplate, originally flint, converted to cap, 14 pounds - really unusual gun.
Don won with the Michael Mater 4 barrel turn-over shotgun. Unusual gun made by an eccentric Canadian gunsmith, fine condition. Saw the gun again when I visited him. It went for north of 9k - way out of my league.
Don collected things other than guns and art. In front of his house was a large cannon.
 
tiriaq said:
Almost 50 years ago, I was at a gunshow, and there was a prize for the best antique shotgun.
Click to expand...

I miss those days. Some tables were for interest/information only, not for sale, and you could learn a lot and see things that would otherwise remain hidden in collections.

Now, as we get older, those collections disappear, maybe for good.
 
I have put a display of what I thought were interesting guns on the table - a lot of guys just walked by when I explained they were not for sale.
Usually though, someone comes along and is interested and appreciative, as is content to pass some time in conversation.
 
tiriaq said:
I have put a display of what I thought were interesting guns on the table - a lot of guys just walked by when I explained they were not for sale.
Usually though, someone comes along and is interested and appreciative, as is content to pass some time in conversation.
Click to expand...

Used to be a fair number of people at gun shows who appreciated firearms. Now seems to be the major interest is how much can I flip this for.
Met Don at WOGC show in the mid 60s. His table would have a Patterson Colt or Henry on it.
 
I preferred to have two tables - one for display only, the other for sale & trade items. After all, it is a gun show.
It was always educational and informative when a serious collector would have premium pieces on display. I think a lot of folks stopped bringing the good stuff, because most just didn't appreciate it.
 
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