I've been receiving colorful brochures/catalogs from this auction house periodically for the past 20 years. Each mailing announces upcoming auction(s), many of the lots being estate collections.

Each mailing surprises me as I've never participated in any of their auctions, yet they keep me active on their mailing lists.

I must admit, there have been times when a certain piece offered has piqued my interest and I've been tempted to participate in the auction.
Has anyone here ever had dealings with this auction house? I'd be interested in hearing if you have and your impressions of the transactions.

I purchased a LC Smith from Julia's in the spring as an absentee bidder. The gun was described accurately and the pictures were of very high quality. The transaction was handled very professionally and efficiently. The gun was shipped a few days after payment and was packed very professionally in a custom designed box. The barrels were boxed separately from the action---very impressive. I have complete confidence in Julia's and will bid on an item in the upcoming auction.

Kid, since you and I have in the past communicated by PM in the past...I wanted to give credit to Julia...very professional....had a rifle picked up from my home which was in my family from my grandfathers days....packed ..great communication...but I was a seller. As it turned out I sold the rarest springfield trap door in the country....West point would have bought it ...but it was owned originally by General John Gibbon...who ordered it from the Wyoming territory as a hunting gun...the records were established though Dick Hosmer and another expert out of the Univ. of Ariz. whose name escapes me as I type.....it will be in a book on these officers rifles....Gibbon taught artillery tactics at West Point, was wounded during the battle of Fredricksburg, then assisted with Hancock to repel Picketts Charge, and again wounded.....then was one of the three generals to be with Grant at the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox. ... Then his rank was reduced to Col......where is arrived too late to assist Custer at the Little Big horn but in time to relieve Major Reno....Gibbons command buried the Custer dead...after , he pursued Chief Joseph and was again wounded at a later battle ....later on the west coast command , placed a west coast city under martial law during the Chinese riots...I think SF,could be Seattle... but forget. The gun is the rarest Springfield Trapdoor made... since it was an Officers model...but with a Marksman stock.....Freund( sp) sights....the only one on record...Julia was great and provided two pages in their catalogue...with Gibbons photo along with a cane I had.....as well as a more complete history...I was very happy with the result but more happy with how I was treated....along with a tax letter I need and appraisal.

In my view, James Julia sets the “Platinum Standard” for Auction Houses in the area of arms—and probably in their other areas as well. I have purchased through them, and I was completely satisfied in every aspect.

Best

Berrien

In this coming months Julia's auction, there is a very special three barrel L.C. Smith that was presented to Leroy Smith from his brother Lyman (L.C.) as a present for starting the Ithaca Gun Co. in 1883. It is a Quality 3 with special checkering and it it engraved on the top of the barrel as being presented to Leroy.

Leroy Smith, W.H. Baker, and George Livermore (Leroy and Lyman's brother-in-law) left L.C. Smith Gun Co. in 1881 in the pursuit of a new gun company.

There is also a 3" x 6" notebook that an accountant that worked for L.C. Smith Gun Co. kept records of monies and on one page dated 1886 lists all the months and monies and guns made for the whole year. It also shows that late in August the start of the hammerless gun with 14 made.
Very interesting history.

Thanks very much, guys. The stellar endorsements will ease my mind and loosen my wallet if/when something shows up I can't live without.

Coincidence re professionalism, I was talking yesterday to owner of oldest art gallery in Atlantic Canada and professional appraiser to boot. Noting description of a particular piece began with "The story goes. . ." I mentioned to my friend "That's professionalism, that gives me confidence." He replied it couldn't be anything else with third-party say-so. He related that he brought to the attention of one of the world's most distinguished auction houses what he said was an obvious forgery. He was told that X X X wouldn't be lectured on ethics. It pleases me to read of experiences with Julia's, the only regret that integrity seems so rare these days that we feel obliged to mention it when we see it. Thanks.

One more point about Julia's. I pointed out a replaced forend on one their listing and they added a statement regarding the replacement to a catalog addendum. They thanked me for pointing out the issue.

In the past several months two fake very high grade Lefevers have been presented by Julia's. They were both caught before the full catalog was presented. When presented with the information Julia's did include the "upgrade" information in the full catalog description. Whether this would have been done if the diligent members of the Lefever Arms Collectors Association hadn't brought this to their attention is, of course, unknown.

When dealing with any of the Auction Houses including "Julia's" (I know from experience with Julia's) do your homework .In many cases they do not! I think many of their guns are purchased by uninformed buyers and are not really checked out after the purchase.
Not sure if they (Auction Houses) want to know everything....buyer beware.

A few years ago, Julia had in his online auction catalog quite a few Parkers that were listed in Mint condition. Naturally the price that they expected was high.
Doug Turnbull say this pre-catalog and called Julia saying that he had refinished these guns and had the serial numbers in his ledger.

Thanks to Doug notifying Julia or else it might have caused a problem later. His own staff of experts couldn't tell,

You are right, Caveat emptor.

I've bought and sold at the JDJ auctions. They are just over an hour's drive away, which makes it possible to examine something carefully before bidding. I think Bob's story, above, relates to guns that Turnbull restored. Doug supposedly came and looked them over in person, outed them prior to the auction. There were also some .22rf engraved Winchesters in boxes that weren't factory.

I have no major beefs with JDJ, generally agree with Berien. Like any board regular who thinks he's seen everything, JDJ's folks can be fooled by a really good fake. Most infamous was the "forensically validated" Little Big Horn 1866 - the front cover item - that turned out not to have been there at all. Given the sophisticated efforts employed getting that item so far I cannot lay blame upon JDJ - and they made things right for the buyer, as we'd hoped.

Specifically, when I've asked pointed questions of their experts I've gotten straightforward answers.

Sam

I have gone to several of Julia's auctions when they were here in NH (Portsmouth,Manchester once,and Hampton)and always been pleased with any gun I purchased.I would not hesitate to bid based on the description and would call to have a hands on review if I had any questions.