World Record Set at James Julia Auction House

All I can say to this is "Wow!"

From Forbes:

By Nina P. West

Top Gun

A global economic meltdown and a $300,000 starting bid weren't enough to keep an anonymous bidder in Maine from hitting his or her target--an antique Colt Walker pistol. The $920,000 winning bid set a world record for any single firearm sold at auction.

The .44-caliber revolver was made for use by the Texas Rangers during the Mexican-American War in the mid-19th century and is one of the most exciting discoveries in the field of military collectibles in many years...

The Colt Walker pistol made its first appearance in 1847 as the result of collaboration between Capt. Samuel H. Walker and firearms designer Samuel Colt. So happy was the U.S. army with the gun's design that Eli Whitney's factory in New York was immediately commissioned to make 1,000 of them.

Walker wrote that the gun is "as effective as a common rifle at 100 yards and superior to a musket at 200." The gun remained the most powerful handgun in the world for more than a century, until the introduction of the .357 Magnum in 1935...

...The Colt sold at James Julia was in perfect corrosion-free condition, the ultimate reason for the gun's stunning price. It was issued to Pvt. Samuel Wilson, who died, presumably in battle, at the age of 33. The gun was obtained by another soldier, Brevet Maj. Gen. John Reese Kenly, and it remained in his family until the recent auction.

That was an amazing sale, I doubt many modern firearms could ever bring that kind of price, but there are a few. Some of the firearms put out by the custom houses may become that collectible in the next century, we will just have to wait and see which ones stand the test of time.