A Rare Gun Owned by King Louis XIII Could Fetch $425,000 at Auction

One upcoming auction item is truly fit for royalty.

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A gun that once belonged to King Louis XIII of France will hit the auction block next month, and it’s expected to achieve an impressive $425,000. The gold and silver ornamented royal presentation wheellock sporting arm is one of the headliners for Rock Island Auction Company’s August Premier Auction , taking place from August 23 to 25.

“Our August Premier Auction is, pound-for-pound, as good of an offering of fine, historic, rare, and high-condition firearms that has been available in our field,” Kevin Hogan, the president of Rock Island Auction Company, said in a statement. “We’ve curated a grouping of the rarest and most historic pieces, and are honored to offer the magnificent 400-year-old wheellock from King Louis XIII’s Cabinet d’Armes. It’s a tremendous opportunity collectors may not see again.”

This is the first time the Louis XIII firearm will be available to the public, and it’s being joined by a few other guns that have only traded hands privately in the past. A World War II Singer model 1911A1 pistol could also fetch $425,000. That firearm has been identified as the personal sidearm of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas R. Moss, who served as a pilot in the Air Force. And a recently discovered Winchester could hammer down for $275,000. That gun, a model 1886 called “the Marshfield Find,” is being offered in its original crate and with five boxes of ammunition.

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While these three pieces are making waves for coming to public auction for the first time, there are even more standouts among the 1,800 lots. An engraved and gold-washed Colt Thunderer could sell for $190,000. The revolver was gifted to Pat Garrett, the lawman who killed Billy the Kid, by his friends in El Paso, Texas. A pair of silver-plated Colt six-shooter revolvers could achieve $180,000, in part thanks to their association with the historic 101 Ranch. And an engraved Tranter revolver that belonged to the 19th-century detective W. A. Pinkerton could go home for a cool $110,000.

Whether you wish you could have walked the halls of the French royal palace or the saloons of the early American West, the RIAC auction is full of firearms that bring you a little bit closer to that past.

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