[tabs]

I look through lots of spoons every week at auction from border to border left coast to right coast and even across the oceans... I have well over 100 items that I am tracking every week.

The Majors for Spoons (in no particular order of importance): All have their catalogs on line, only Julia's is still only a brick and mortar auction. These guys carry the best of the best and get the best prices...I have seen a spoon fetch 1M USD at Julias, 700K at Little Johns...

1. Julia's in Maine
2. Rock Island in Moline
3. Greg Martin Irvine
4 Little Johns in Anaheim

Up and coming: or honorable mention..He carries the best of the best to mid grade stuff. His prices are mostly pretty good on both ends of the trade.

Amoskeag in Manchester NH.

Also Rans: These guys are not consistent sometimes good some times bad. Bonhams in Knightsbridge and Gardiner do run top notch stuff..but it is too far to drive..

Bonhams in Knightsbridge and SF, CA
Cowans in Cincinnati
Kull Scupia in Kansas..a S&W guy
Australian Arms Auction..down under
Gavin Gardiner..West Sussex

Then there is everyone else: This is where I find most of my stuff..These guys host on line live auctions that are held at 100's of auction houses in both the US and Europe every month So for the most part these are both brick and mortar and Internet auctions. Some houses are running more than one Internet source of bidding at the same time. Auction Zip is like the phone book of upcoming auctions. Literally they have 500 to 700 auctions across the USA of every description listed for every Saturday.

1. Art Fact Live
2. Live Auctions
3. Proxibid
4. Auction Zip

The Gun Buying Sites: I use mainly GB to sell, I watch but don't buy so much here. These are more or less sites for dealers to sell their wares. I see stuff bought elsewhere at auction and soon after it shows up on these sites..Gun Runner is an online only auction that is held every month, he does get some interesting stuff but his prices do tend to run high.

1. Gunbroker.
2. Gun America
3. Guns International...
4. Gun Runner..
5. Auction Arms

The Dealers:

1. Collectors Firearms in Houston
2. Monte Whitley in PA
3. David Condon in VA
4. Ivory Beads in Covina, CA
5 Conn Shotguns
6 Track of the Wolf
7. Safari Outfitters

Hope this helps! On one hand this list of sources took me quite a while to compile. However I gave U too much information, because what you are left with is the work of sifting and sifting and sifting..through hundreds if not thousands of auction lots every week to find that one item you eventually will buy at the right price.

For instance I found at Bauer Auctions in Matoon Ill this weekend 4 pristine Colt 1911's..I told my friend down in Miss bout them so he set up a phone bid situation. The spoons he bid on are...

1. Colt 1911 USN 1913....sold 7200
2. Colt 1911 British 1915 Contract...sold 3300
3. Colt 1911 1918 US Army..he didn't bid so I don't know the price realized
4. Colt 1911 1917 US Army...sold 4500

The prices realized are basically retail. No deals, people paid the going rate on these items. There was no bargain here. So the point is one will look at lots of stuff but it is not everyday that one will fall through the cracks and go for a bargain. Bauer Auctions is a brick and mortar auction only, NO Internet bidding. So even here lots of eyes saw these pieces and went for em. BTW my friend didn't get a thing.

The idea is not to chase anything, but have an idea of roughly what ya want to pay that is realistic for what it is worth and if you come in at a bid or maybe even two of what you WANTED TO PAY..then you dun good. Most of the good stuff I have bought over the years was my last and final bid and was just over what I wanted to pay. The only time that I am willing to go to the ends of the earth, with regards to bidding is rarity and condition. Will I see it again anytime soon as in anytime in the next decade?