Key Takeaways:
- Pat Garrett’s Colt Single Action Army sold for $6.03 million in 2021, setting a reported world auction record for a firearm.
- Documented ownership and historical association can be more valuable than a firearm’s model or mechanical features.
- Condition, originality, artistic merit, completeness, and credible supporting records can significantly influence auction prices.
At the highest level of the firearms market, price is rarely determined by model or mechanical design alone. Documented provenance, historical association, condition, rarity, artistic quality, and the credibility of the supporting evidence are usually decisive.
The following firearms rank among the most expensive publicly reported auction sales.
Pat Garrett’s Colt Single Action Army: $6.03 Million
The Colt Single Action Army used by Sheriff Pat Garrett to kill William H. Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid, sold for $6.03 million at Bonhams in Los Angeles on August 27, 2021. The price exceeded its $2 million to $3 million estimate and established a reported world auction record for a firearm.[1]
Garrett killed Bonney at Pete Maxwell’s ranch in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, on July 14, 1881. The revolver later formed part of the Jim and Theresa Earle collection, which contained firearms and artifacts assembled over approximately five decades.[1]
The result demonstrates the importance of provenance. Comparable production Colts can be valuable, but this example’s documented connection to one of the best-known events in the history of the American West placed it in an entirely different market.
Ulysses S. Grant’s Remington Revolvers: $5.17 Million
A cased pair of decorated Remington New Model Army revolvers associated with Ulysses S. Grant sold for $5.17 million at Rock Island Auction Company on May 13, 2022.[2]
Numbered 1 and 2, the revolvers carry gold inlay, patriotic imagery, Grant’s initials, and portraits of the Union general. Their engraving has been attributed to Louis Daniel Nimschke, a prominent 19th-century American firearms engraver.[3]
The precise circumstances of their presentation to Grant have not been conclusively established. Rock Island reported that they were probably presented following the Union victory at Vicksburg in 1863, but that conclusion remains an attribution rather than a documented certainty.[2]
Their price reflects an exceptional combination of presidential association, Civil War significance, matched serial numbers, elaborate decoration, and survival as a cased pair.
The Lafayette-Washington-Jackson Pistols: $1.8 Million
This pair of circa-1775–1776 flintlock saddle pistols bears the mark of Jacob Walster of Saarbrücken. Their ownership history connects the Marquis de Lafayette, George Washington, and Andrew Jackson.[4]
Lafayette presented the pistols to Washington during the American Revolution. In 1824, Washington’s nephew William Robinson gave them to Jackson. Jackson subsequently directed that they be returned to Lafayette’s family, and the pistols descended through that family before appearing at auction.[4]
Christie’s sold the pair in New York in January 2002 for a reported $1.8 million, then a record auction price for a firearm.[5] Their value rests on an unusually strong historical narrative supported by inscriptions, correspondence, testamentary records, and documented descent.
The “Danish Sea Captain” Colt Walker: $1.84 Million
The Colt Walker was developed through the collaboration of Samuel Colt and Captain Samuel Hamilton Walker. The United States contracted for 1,000 military revolvers in 1847, while approximately 100 additional examples were produced for civilian sale and presentation.[6]
The example known as the “Danish Sea Captain Walker” is a civilian-production revolver associated through surviving documentation with Danish sea captain Niels Hanson. It also retained its case and accessories.
Rock Island Auction Company sold the revolver for $1.84 million in April 2018. The auction house described it at the time as the only known civilian Walker surviving with its original case.[7]
Its price reflected more than the general rarity of the model. Condition, accessories, early documentation, civilian configuration, and an identifiable original owner all strengthened the particular revolver’s importance.
Simón Bolívar’s Boutet Pistols: Approximately $1.69 Million
A cased pair of flintlock pistols made by Nicolas-Noël Boutet at Versailles sold for approximately $1.69 million at Christie’s New York on November 17, 2004.[8]
The pistols date to approximately 1804–1806. Their case bears an inscription recording their presentation in 1830 to British-born naval officer Richard Illingworth. Christie’s reported that Manuela Sáenz delivered the pistols to Illingworth on behalf of Simón Bolívar shortly before Bolívar’s death.[8]
Boutet’s workshop produced elaborately finished firearms for prominent military, political, and royal patrons. In this instance, the quality of the workmanship was reinforced by the pistols’ documented association with Bolívar, Sáenz, and Illingworth.
These should not be confused with a separate pair of Boutet pistols presented to Bolívar by Lafayette in 1825. Christie’s offered that distinct pair in 2016 with a documented ownership history extending from Bolívar to José Ignacio París and through several later collections.[9]
The Millikin Colt Dragoon: $1.67 Million
The “Millikin” revolver is a cased Colt Third Model Dragoon with extensive engraving attributed to Gustave Young. It is associated with Lieutenant Colonel John Millikin, a Union officer killed at the Battle of Stones River on December 31, 1862.
The revolver sold for $1,667,500 at Rock Island Auction Company in May 2019.[10] Its price reflected its Civil War association, high-condition decoration, casing, and history in prominent firearms collections.
More than 18,000 Colt Dragoon revolvers were manufactured between 1848 and 1861.[11] That production figure illustrates why model rarity alone does not explain the Millikin revolver’s value. Its market position arose from the specific firearm’s provenance, decoration, condition, and documentation.
What Produces a Record Price?
These sales reveal several recurring factors:
Provenance: Contemporary correspondence, factory records, inscriptions, wills, photographs, and a documented chain of ownership are substantially more persuasive than family tradition or an unsupported attribution.
Historical association: A firearm connected convincingly to a major person or event may command many times the price of a mechanically identical example without that history.
Condition and originality: Original finish, components, markings, decoration, cases, and accessories can materially affect both scholarly importance and market value.
Artistic merit: Engraving, gold inlay, carving, precious-metal mounts, and work associated with recognized craftsmen can place a firearm within the decorative-arts market.
Completeness: Matched pairs, consecutive serial numbers, original cases, and surviving accessories are especially desirable because separated or incomplete sets are difficult to reconstruct.
Quality of evidence: An auction catalogue establishes how a firearm was described and sold, but it does not independently prove every statement in the description. The strongest attributions are supported by underlying records that can be examined and compared.
Record prices therefore apply to individual artifacts, not automatically to every example of the same model. At the top of the market, documentation and historical identity are often worth considerably more than the firearm’s mechanical features.
Frequently Asked Questions
Pat Garrett’s Colt Single Action Army sold for $6.03 million at Bonhams in 2021. The auction house reported it as a world auction record for a firearm.
Their value can arise from documented connections to important people or events. Rarity, condition, craftsmanship, and market demand also influence the price.
Provenance is often decisive because it establishes a firearm’s ownership history and historical associations. Contemporary records generally carry more evidentiary weight than unsupported family stories.
No. Rarity contributes to value, but an uncommon firearm may still attract limited interest if it lacks condition, provenance, historical importance, or collector demand.
An auction catalogue documents how a firearm was represented and sold, but it does not independently prove every historical claim. Strong authentication depends on verifiable underlying records and physical evidence.
Sources
- Reuters, “Gun That Killed Billy the Kid Sells for $6 Million,” August 27, 2021
- Kurt Allemeier, “Ulysses S. Grant’s Revolvers Bring $5.17M at Auction,” Rock Island Auction Company, May 17, 2022
- Rock Island Auction Company, “Engraved Revolvers: Art on Steel”
- Christie’s, The Lafayette-Washington Pair of Steel-Mounted “Saddle” Pistols, lot record
- Christie’s, Andrew Jackson Autograph Will, catalogue note recording the pistols’ auction result
- Rock Island Auction Company, “The Colt Walker Revolver: Rebirth of Samuel Colt’s Firearms Enterprise”
- Rock Island Auction Company, “Only the Best Firearms”
- Christie’s, A Cased Pair of Flintlock Pistols by Nicolas-Noël Boutet, lot record
- Christie’s, A Magnificent and Important Cased Pair of French Silver-Mounted Rifled Flintlock Pistols by Nicolas-Noël Boutet, lot record
- Rock Island Auction Company, “$1.67M Revolver Sold in $20M Gun Auction,” May 7, 2019
- Rock Island Auction Company, “Colt Dragoon: History and Variations”
