Rick C said

mrcvs said
While $5,875,000 seems like a huge amount for this Henry rifle, plus added fees, it seems very cheap compared to the high end art market.  Almost makes the buyer of this rifle seem like a rookie:
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-10-expensive-auction-works-2025
  

I agree, but then again this is not your average Henry rifle. SN 1 in any model always seems to command the biggest premium and prices. Not sure how much the buyer also valued the provenance with this one but I would guess a substantial amount.
  

I would.  The provenance and engraving is actually more important to me—in this case—than the provenance.  Largely because of this:

https://www.si.edu/object/henry-presentation-rifle%3Anmah_881516

I’m surprised that Edwin M Stanton got the serial number 1 rifle and Lincoln got serial number 6, and not the other way around.

mrcvs said
While $5,875,000 seems like a huge amount for this Henry rifle, plus added fees, it seems very cheap compared to the high end art market.  Almost makes the buyer of this rifle seem like a rookie:
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-10-expensive-auction-works-2025
  

I agree, but then again this is not your average Henry rifle. SN 1 in any model always seems to command the biggest premium and prices. Not sure how much the buyer also valued the provenance with this one but I would guess a substantial amount.

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-10-expensive-auction-works-2025

Rick C said
Well, it certainly set a new record and then some. Unless another has sold for higher since, the most expensive antique rifle ever sold at auction prior to this was a Winchester Model 1886 Sporting Rifle (also Serial Number 1), which fetched $1.265 million at the Rock Island Auction. This is 4x that. 
  

I was in awe when they sold the Rifleman’s 1892 rifle for 500k a few months back! Who knew that was a steal! 😁😳

I developed an interest in antique firearms at a very young age, well before my 18th birthday, and the stuff I was handling then was by no means as nice as this rifle, nor, for that matter, even as nice as most of what I have collected now.  I decided that I would work for a corporation that would pay me handsomely enough to collect virtually anything I wanted to, not even fathoming that a firearm could ever run 6 figures or more.  A great plan, except these corporate job offers never materialized.

Putting this all together, this is why you and I are on this forum, the die hard collectors dreaming, fantasizing, and commiserating.  And the lucky winner of this rifle is not on this forum, it’s a trophy, firearms probably aren’t even in his blood.  Or, another way of thinking of it. We should be using our energy to create the next Nvidia and then decide to collect, and not the other way around.  It’s VERY difficult to succeed in the bottom up approach without a lot of luck and connections.

i know an individual in the meat industry, his brother showed up one day, an M.D. in a very expensive sports car, bragged about how he had another ten just like it.  Then his brother told me he went to medical school to finance his expensive car interests, had no interest in helping folks get better.  And showed up to borrow money from his sausage-making brother as he couldn’t support his lifestyle.  Moral behind that story:  Don’t bite off more than you can chew.  It sounds like the purchaser of this rifle can afford to bite off a lot, as he supposedly won several items in this auction.  Most items approached or exceeded the annual income of most individuals in this country.

 I have used RIA surprises to direct me to like gun purchases before the rest of the market reacts. Most of my purchases in the last 5 years have been trying to find the next gun that will appreciate rapidly or at least be a easy sale or trade.

 In the case of the 6 million dollar Henry it was serial number 1 and a famous owner during a historic time in history. Any one of these three things raise the price of any gun and all three raise it a lot. The sale of this Henry does not affect the price of other Henrys. I come away from this auction understanding the value of serial number 1, a famous owner, and key times in American history.

                                                                                               T/R

Yours has the expected bolt sleeve.  The hole in the side for a safety retaining pin (distinguishing Versions 1A and 1B) was added early in 1938 more or less around serial number 14,000.  That bolt sleeve was then used for the rest of Type I (pre-war) actions.

Thanks,
Lou

The resale value of my 2009 Toyota Tacoma is not influenced by the going collector price of the Mercedes Benz 300SL presented by its maker to Juan Manuel Fangio, the great Argentine who once drove for the marque. That both are cars is irrelevant.

Even If my car were a 1956 Corvette instead of a Toyota truck, the price of Fangio's ride would still not affect the value of my Vette -- unless GM had presented it for some unknowable reason to Stirling Moss.