"Frontier Issued"

[Craig Larter]

“Frontier Issued” is a fancy new term coined by Rock Island Auction to describe the western arms collection of Mr. John Fox in the September sale. It is a collection of western working guns showing much wear and use, most would call them wall hangers, interesting historically but beyond being able to put into usable condition. It is interesting because the collection connects the gun to the time/place and the hard use most of these tools were put to by the men of the period on the western frontier. It seems to be that guns with character and little original finish were cast off by most collectors as unworthy in earlier times. As time marches on do you think this will change? Will worn-out Parker wall hangers that connect the gun to say the golden era of waterfowl hunting be more sought after in the future? Are modern-day collectors too insensitive to these historical items and too quick pass them off?