Background and Market Position

Launched in January 2002, Greg Martin Auctions was founded by three veterans of Butterfields Auctioneers, the San Francisco-based auction house established in 1865 – Greg Martin, a long-time director and consultant; Bernard Osher, the firm's former owner; and John Gallo, its one-time President. Together in 1986, these three started the arms department at Butterfields and built it into the world's largest – achieving record prices and total sales of over $200 million in antique arms, armor, militaria and historical memorabilia. With over a century of combined experience in world-class auction houses, the directors of Greg Martin Auctions are among the most knowledgeable and expert leaders in the auction industry today.

Based in San Francisco, Greg Martin Auctions provides collectors, dealers, institutions, and enthusiasts with unsurpassed expertise as well as a complete range of services to appraise, value, market and sell antique arms, armor and historical memorabilia. The company's full-service approach to auctions includes state-of-the-art technology, bi-coastal linked auction rooms, Internet bidding and private preview showings by appointment. Sales schedules and collector information are available online.


Selling Areas

Greg Martin Auctions' property and services are available worldwide. Buyers interested in items at auction have multiple options to gain information and submits bids. The Internet, telephone, fax and direct participation are available to every client.

Company History      (top)

When 12-year old Greg Martin accompanied his mother into a Northern California junk shop and found an antique Colt revolver priced at $15, Mrs. Martin said she would give her son $10 to purchase the gun if Greg could get the store owner to reduce his price. Greg negotiated the deal, bought the Colt, and has been buying and selling antique firearms ever since.

Martin's boyhood purchase sparked a life-long interest in historic arms, armor, and related memorabilia. Over the years, he has built a distinguished reputation as a private dealer, consultant, author and media personality in this segment of the collecting market.

In 1985 Martin bought the Parker Lyon Pony Express Museum, which had been owned by the founder of Lyon's Moving and Storage. Lyon, one of the first Western collectors, started buying around 1900 and amassed a huge collection. After Lyon died in 1955, Bill Harrah of Harrah's Casino bought the entire collection and moved it into a warehouse in Sparks, Nevada anticipating to build an old Western town which was never realized. The museum's best artifacts graced the entrance to Harrah's car collection, which was then the biggest in the world. When Harrah passed away in the mid-1980s, Holiday Inns Corporation bought the casino and its assets, including the Parker Lyon collection. Greg Martin purchased the entire museum in order to obtain three coveted guns.

Publicity surrounding the purchase led Bernard Osher, then owner of Butterfield & Butterfield Auctioneers in San Francisco, to seek out Martin, an auction client. Hoping that his company might sell the rest of the collection, Osher and John Gallo, then Executive VP, struck a deal with Martin. The resulting auction generated the company's best-selling catalog at the time – a testament to public interest in Western artifacts – and realized three times the prices Martin expected.

Clearly, the results of the sale showed this team was on to something. Martin became formally associated with Butterfield & Butterfield as a consultant and arms and armor became a separate corporate department. By the early 1990's Martin’s group became the largest and most prestigious Arms & Armor Department in the world.

While the association of Osher, Gallo and Martin might have continued indefinitely, in 1999 Butterfield's was acquired by eBay, which had become interested in a 'bricks and mortar' auction house to complement its burgeoning online auction business.

As a result of the sale and its planned management changes, Bernard Osher and John Gallo found themselves free to pursue new opportunities. The first shingle they hung out was one that read, "Gone Fishin'" – since fly-fishing was a passion of each. In fact, it was on one of these excursions together, some time later floating in a boat, that they hooked the next big idea. As their discussion progressed, they took aim at antique firearms which were high-value, few in number products, and whose clientele they knew well from years of successful relationships. They met with Martin and soon the three hung out a new shingle. Greg Martin Auctions was born in January 2002.

Today, Greg Martin Auctions is the largest and most prestigious auction firm in our industry. The firm has quickly established itself as the pre-eminent auction service firm in the United States. Semi-annual auctions feature some of the finest collections that are offered to the marketplace and the resulting prices realized have set numerous world record prices. Our recent expansion to the East Coast, through the engagement of Wm 'Pete' Harvey as representative, develops a conduit of services to a most important market.

The company was purchased in October 2005 by Escala Group. Escala Group is a consolidated global collectibles network. The Company is a leading auctioneer of stamps, coins, arms, armor and militaria, and other memorabilia, targeting both collectors and dealers. Escala is also a merchant/dealer of certain collectibles and trader of precious metals. The Company's collectibles offerings span the modest to ultra high-end price spectrum. Escala conducts its operations in two business segments: collectibles and trading.

Escala's Group Companies focused on philately are H.R. Harmer Nutmeg of North America; Corinphila Auktionen of Zurich, Switzerland and the Kohler auction house in Wiesbaden, Germany, in our European division; and John Bull Stamp Auctions, Ltd, the oldest philatelic auction house in Hong Kong, comprising our Asia division. Escala's Group Companies in the numismatics division include Teletrade, Bowers and Merena Auctions, North American Certified Trading, and Spectrum Numismatics International, one of the largest wholesalers of rare coins in the U.S. Greg Martin Auctions is in the Company's art and antiques division.

The trading activities of Escala Group are conducted through A-Mark Precious Metals, one of the largest private sellers of bullion coins and bullion gold, silver and platinum to the wholesale marketplace. Collateral Finance Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of A-Mark, provides financing on a wide array of bullion and numismatic products.