The Collection was started in 2018 with the main goal of doing appraisals on firearms. Miles Hall our senior appraiser has been in the firearm industry for over 40 years. Miles has performed appraisals on close to 10,000 individual units. From standard everyday firearms that can be picked up at your local store to truly one of a kind finds owned by household names.
Over the next few years The Collection flew under the radar. We did FFL transfers for friends and clients. Had the opportunity to introduce several first time gun owners to the sport. We spent some time working with manufacturers and distributors inside the industry and transferred inventory and facilitated deals between dealers coast to coast.
Over the years we got most of our business from word of mouth. We started noticing a need that was not currently being met in our market. One of the questions we would often receive was how to sell part or all of a collection. In the vast majority of cases our long standing answer was to encourage people to work with a local firearms dealer near them. The firearm community is full of passionate people who love the shooting sports. Sometimes their family may not share the passion on the same level. What we found was that many firearm dealers took advantage of a family that may not have any idea what their or the collection of someone who has passed may be worth. We started vetting dealers on behalf of our clients and tried to get people with honorable dealers for a mutually beneficial relationship.
The straw that broke the camels back was a wonderful lady who contacted us after her husband passed away leaving a large collection and a widow not wanting any part of the process. She had called a couple places before us and both of these large stores offered her pennies on the dollar for the value of an almost six figure estate collection.
We are proud of the business we built and the services we are able to offer. The Collection helps individuals and families keep on average 75% of the current value. When someone consigns firearms with us it also creates a “clean break” as far as firearm ownership. By selling with us the guns are checked into our “books” and the buyer must fill out a background check giving peace of mind to anyone who doesn’t want a gun tracked back to their family. We are a family owned business and that shines through in everything we do. The connections and reputation we have built in our community with our family of brands including Lock It Up Safes and Okie Engraving are one of our proudest accomplishments.