Gun Collectors Have Rare Chance At Arms Museum Auction

The J.M. Davis Arms and Historical Museum is selling pieces from their collection for the first time. The museum has 149 firearms in an auction that is online now, and concludes Sunday with a live auction in Dallas.

The museum plans to use the proceeds of the auction to pay for equipment and supplies they need to better preserve the collection.

The Davis collection spans the history of firearms and is thought to be the world’s largest in private hands. The museum is state operated, but the collection is held by the privately held Davis Foundation.

While many of the firearms are unique, in some cases, they have several copies of the same gun. Curator Jason Schubert said “There’s only so many of these amazing guns you can have.”

It was his job to sort through 13,000 firearms and decide what could be sold.

“We're satisfied that we can do this without jeopardizing the collection or the history that we're preserving” said Schubert.

Museum Director Wayne McCombs said the museum has several thousand items that could be sold without removing anything significant from the collection.

For an individual, however, the auction is a first ever chance to own a museum quality firearm, complete with the museum tag and what’s known about the piece.

“For anybody, any antique firearms person, it should be a real treat to own one of these items,” McCombs said.

Their firearms are being sold at Heritage Auctions.