For the last 15 years James D. Julia, Inc. has been the leading auction house in the world for high-end, rare and valuable firearms, edged weapons and related items. We have sold more rare and valuable sporting arms than any other auction house in the world, we are the world’s leading seller of fine Winchesters, extraordinary Colts, important Civil War and Confederate items, and we have also sold more Class 3 machine guns than any other auction house in North America and much more. Simply put, we excel at marketing and selling rare and valuable firearms. Now, with our merger to Morphy Auctions, the Morphy and Julia companies take pride going into the future with the ability to offer sellers and buyers alike the finest auction experience in the world.

While other auction companies focus on sheer volume over quality, we have maintained our focus on outstanding firearms. And, as a result, we have an impressive, loyal, and global customer base for our high-grade firearms and militaria. The collections we’ve handled in recent years reads like a “Who’s Who” in the gun world. Joe Murphy, Estate of Norm Flayderman, Estate of Elmer Keith, Tommy Rholes Collection, Douglas Sirkin Collection, Bill Stewart Collection, Evergreen Ventures Collection of Class III and Militaria, Dr. Geoffrey Sturgess Collection, Paul Tudor Jones Collection, Don & Kathlee Bryan Collection, The Spectacular Collections of Ray Bentley featuring the finest and rarest deluxe antique Winchesters in the world, and many more.

The success of this division is in part due to our extraordinary team, without question the finest in the gun auction business today. Our team, which has recently merged with the firearms team at Morphy Auctions, consists of members with decades of experience and a reputation for integrity. Each of them has an extraordinary and diverse background in the firearms and auction world. They are also supported by our administrative team of Tara Fredette, Chelsea Semple and Nell Inman.

Please note that our Spring 2018 Extraordinary Firearms Auction will be the final auction held in Fairfield, Maine. All future auctions will be held at the world class facilities at Morphy Auctions in Denver, Pennsylvania and Las Vegas.

Tony Wilcox brings over 30 years of experience in the firearms business to the Julia’s team. Tony’s primary focus is Colts, Winchesters and 20th Century military firearms. However, with over 30 years with 200 plus days a year on the road attending gun shows, Tony has been exposed to thousands of different firearms and with this hands on experience has a fabulous knowledge of firearms and their market values. Tony also understands the retail side of the firearms business, owning an operating his own gun store in the Washington D.C. area.

 

Wes Dillon, Julia’s senior consultant and sales agent, came to work for Julia’s in June 2007. He has an extensive background in rare firearms. Wes attended the University of Illinois and Southern Illinois University. He is one of the founding members of the world-famous Cabela’s Gun Library and eventually became the managing head. His many years of management skills, his superb client relationship skills and his great professionalism and attention to detail have helped to create a superior customer approach in our Rare Firearms Division.

 

Jeremy Hatch is our newest Firearms Sales Representative, but he is not new to firearms nor to sales. A graduate of the University of Maine system, Jeremy brings a breadth of experience to the Julia’s team. For the eleven years prior to joining Julia’s, he was a Senior Sales and Marketing Executive with Shooting Sportsman magazine and has attended many trade and consumer firearms shows around the country, working closely with individual clients and companies. A lover of fine double guns and pointing dogs, Jeremy is “hands on” in the field as well. He grew up in a sporting family and to this day can often be found wandering through the mountains or sitting in a duck blind. He is a member of the NRA, Ruffed Grouse Society, American Woodcock Society, North American Versatile Hunting Dogs Association, North American Deutsch Kurzhaar Club, and the Maine Trappers Association. Jeremy is a fully licensed Master Maine Guide for almost twenty years, a great accomplishment in and of itself.

 

Josh Loewensteiner, Julia’s regional Sales Agent, is a lifelong firearms enthusiast who began studying, collecting and shooting guns with his father and brother when he was just eight years old- he has been studying firearms for nearly 30 years! He particularly enjoys the classic American sporting guns. Josh is a Life member of the Parker Gun Collectors Association, currently serving on the Board of Directors as well as Secretary, Life Member of the NRA, a member of the Lefever Arms Collectors Association, the L.C. Smith Collectors Association, the Colt Collectors Association, the A.H. Fox Gun Collectors Association, and the Winchester Arms Collectors Association. Josh has a proven track record in delivering outstanding customer service, as well as sales and marketing success. He has been a part of the Julia’s Team since 2013 and represents clients throughout the country counseling them on their treasured firearms and has become a trusted expert in helping clients to achieve success in the monetization of firearms at auction.

 

John Keene is a full time staff member at Julia’s. He leads our BATF compliance efforts as well as being responsible for identifying, evaluating, appraising, and cataloging specialty military firearms for auction. He specializes in Class III machine guns from the first half of the 20th century. He also has expertise with machine guns from the 1950s onward, as well as last century military firearms. Complementing this encyclopedic knowledge is his understanding of the complex rules and regulations associated with different machine gun classes as defined by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF). As such, he is a huge asset to Class III buyers and sellers, being able to facilitate and complete transfer forms properly as well as make updates and corrections to the all-important BATF Class III registry.

Mr. Keene is a retired Army combat veteran who has proudly served our country for over 28 years. Keene was a charter member and officer of the Hiram Maxim Historical Society.

 

Sadly, J.R. LaRue passed away on Decmeber 14, 2017. His contributions to Julia’s firearms auctions cannot be overstated. Most recently J.R. was our chief firearms consultant and cataloging department, and for many years he was a key and instrumental component to the success of this division. He worked with Julia’s in various roles since 1996, but spent many years prior to that with the company on a project basis. His immense depth of experience in the gun world benefited this division tremendously for many years, and he will be greatly missed. Recent health issues had caused J.R. to relinquish some of his responsibilities, but he still enjoyed consigning collections and cataloging for our auctions as much as he could. To read more about this wonderful man and his many impressive accomplishments, please click here.

If you have one item of quality or an entire collection, you will find dealing with our firearms team to be easy, convenient, straightforward and extremely profitable. Contact us today for a discussion of your auction needs at 877-968-8880.

Press Releases | Newsletters | Past Successes | About Morphy Auctions

Colt Walker A Company 210 (est: $500,000-1,000,000) World Record for the
most expensive single firearms sold at auction in history at that time
Sold for $920,000

 

Ernest Hemingway’s Westley Richards Best Quality Double Rifle
(est: $150,000-200,000)
Sold for $339,250

 

Theodore Roosevelt’s Fox Shotgun
(est: $750,000-1,000,000)
Sold for $862,000

 

Ulrich engraved Winchester Model 1873 rifle of Robert H. Coleman
(est: $50,000-100,000)
Sold for $391,000