In recent years the James D. Julia Rare Firearms & Military Division has established itself as the foremost firearms auction company in the world. For 5 years we have consistently conducted some of the highest grossing firearms auctions in history. In addition, our average sale value per lot recently topped $15,000 per lot. (The industry average varies from $800-3,000 per lot.) In October of 2008, we sold a rare Colt Walker pistol for $920,000, the most expensive single firearm ever sold at auction. Our focus and our success tends to be on the more rare and valuable items, whether it be important Winchesters, rare Colts, high art shotguns, Civil War or Class III machine guns. While other auction companies focus on trying to handle the largest number of guns or attempt to market literally anything that comes their way, we have maintained a focus, and as a result, have developed a formidable international clientele of affluent buyers for high-grade firearms and militaria. Our marketing and our expertise is unsurpassed. The collections handled in recent years reads like a "Who's Who" in the gun world. The success of this division is in part due to our extraordinary team, without question the finest in the gun auction business today. Our department heads consist of Wes Dillon, Bill Taylor and Judy Labbe. Each of them has an extraordinary and diverse background in the firearms and auction world. Wes Dillon and Bill Taylor came to work for Julia’s in June 2007. Both have extensive backgrounds in rare firearms. Wes attended the University of Illinois and Southern Illinois University. He is one of the founding members of the world-famous Cabela’s Gun Library and eventually became the managing head. His many years of management skills, his superb client relationship skills and his great professionalism and attention to detail have helped to create a superior customer approach in our Rare Firearms & Military Division. Bill Taylor is extremely well known in the gun world. Bill has approximately 30 years in the firearms industry. He’s a graduate of Trinidad Junior College with a specialty in Gunsmithing and has had tremendous experience in the marketing of fine and rare collectible guns before he came to Julia’s. For a number of years he was the principle Buyer for Cabela’s and also managed the Gun Library in Minnesota. He has tremendous knowledge and a direct but personable approach in dealing with clients.
Rounding out this team is Judy Labbe. Judy first began working at Julia’s in September 1997 as an administrative assistant, eventually taking on more responsibility and moving up within the company, eventually supporting the Firearms Division. At one point during the absence of a dept. head, she literally managed the dept. by herself, putting together a complete auction. Through the years, Judy has developed a good overall knowledge of firearms, but more importantly, an extraordinary knowledge about the auction process. Because of her great level of experience and her warm personality, she’s extremely comfortable and professional to deal with in all matters associated with the auction process. One of the premier selling points of our Rare Firearms & Military Division is the extraordinary depth of expertise. Depending upon what we are handling, we utilize as many as 20 different specialty consultants to catalog goods. These consultants are some of the foremost experts in their respective fields. Many of these consultants are renowned scholars, authors and/or dealers in the trade. Heading our consultant department is Mr. J.R. LaRue. J.R. LaRue has been a key and instrumental component to the success of this division. J.R. first started working with our company full time in 1996. Having worked with Julia’s on a temporary basis as a consultant for some years, J.R. eventually came to work full time with Julia’s, heading the firearms division. J.R. now serves as our head consultant to our Firearms Division. He is extensively involved in the assessment, acquisition and cataloging of a tremendous array of quality collections and firearms. His rapport, extraordinary sense of recall and immense depth of experience in the gun world has benefitted this division tremendously.
Members of Julia’s staff travel literally anywhere in North America and occasionally through Europe acquiring consignments. If you have one item of quality or an entire collection, you will find dealing with our Firearms & Military Division to be easy, convenient, straightforward and extremely profitable . Call today for a discussion of your auction needs at (207) 453-7125.
At James D. Julia Auctioneers, our goal is simple: To consistently present the finest groupings of quality arms and militaria.