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U.S. Navy WWII ship's bridge binoculars, which sold for $22,800

See here: WWII binoculars lead Cowan’s $1.1M arms & armor sale

Sheila Gibson Stoodley
Sheila Gibson Stoodley
U.S. Navy WWII ship's bridge binoculars, which sold for $22,800
U.S. Navy WWII ship’s bridge binoculars, which sold for $22,800

CINCINNATI – Cowan’s kicked off a new era of Arms and Armor on May 25 with a two-day sale that saw a fresh-to-market collection drive the auction well past its high estimate to a total of $1.1 million. The first auction under new Director of Arms, Armor, and Militaria Tim Carey received significant interest with nearly 1,000 bidders participating in the auction and selling 97% of all lots offered.

“This was very much a team effort and we have assembled one heck of a team here at Cowan’s,” said Carey. “This auction demonstrated that not only is Cowan’s still in the Arms and Armor business but we’re still one of the industry leaders.”

1902 DWM Luger Carbine with stock and hard case, which sold for $10,455
1902 DWM Luger Carbine with stock and hard case, which sold for $10,455

The lynchpin of the auction was more than 350 lots of historic firearms and militaria from the lifelong collection of Charlie Hinton, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  Hinton’s collection was new to the market and covered the full range of American military arms, from the Indian War era through World War II. Combined, the collection achieved a price of $628,237, well outpacing its presale estimate of $390,200-$583,800.

The top lot from the Hinton collection was a 1902 DWM Luger carbine, with a stock and hard case included, which sold for $10,455. Other highlights from the collection included a JP Sauer & Sohn M30 World War II Luftwaffe Survival Drilling, which sold for $9,225, and a Type II Colt single action Army Artillery revolver, which realized $7,440.

The hottest category of the auction was M1 carbines, with every lot in the category surpassing its estimate. The highlight of the group was an experimental or presentation XB serial numbered Inland M1 carbine, which sold for $5,700. The serial numbers XB1 through XB100 were part of a group of “experiential” firearms for engineering use and presentation M1 carbines produced by Inland that were not delivered to the government or issued for military use. Roughly 800 of these Inland M1 carbines were produced with a variety of X prefix serial numbers, in groups from “X” through “XG,” with most produced in a run of 100 guns for each prefix.

The top lot of the auction came from the Militaria category: a US Navy ship’s bridge binoculars from World War II. It sold for $22,800, more than five times its presale estimate.

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