Martin who has turned a love affair with history, particularly historic arms, armor and related memorabilia, into a profitable enterprise admits that “he takes his hobbies pretty seriously.”

And it is with that autonomy, that Martin and the original founders of Greg Martin Auctions bought back their company from the publicly-traded Spectrum Group International.

Martin and his partners, John Gallo and Bernard Osher, the management team that ushered Butterfields & Butterfields (now Bonham & Butterfield) into the one of the world’s largest department of antique arms and armor, are coming back in a serious way.

They already have two multi-million dollar sales booked and they are going all out for the East Coast market. They’re also looking to expand the company image.

Martin and his partners sold the auction house to Spectrum in 2006. Martin stayed on with Spectrum as a consultant. Despite having his name still attached to the thriving business, Martin had a different vision of what his namesake company had become.

“Greg Martin Auctions just wasn’t Greg Martin Auctions,” he says. “I didn’t back off with our style and philosophy, but Spectrum was more into coin and bullion. We’re now returning to our roots – high quality items, excellent service to our buyers and sellers.”

So, he and his partners moved back in – finalizing the deal around the first of April.

“It’s good to be back in the saddle,” Martin said. “I think there was a boredom factor too – especially for John and Bernard,” Martin said, “we just thought it would be fun to do it all over again.”

Spectrum, a Fortune 500 company, specializes in precious metal products, including gold, silver, platinum and palladium, in addition to working as an auction firm for coin, stamps and wine specialists.

Martin promises more changes.

First off, the company will be moving back to its original headquarters in San Francisco, where a new exhibition and gallery will soon be completed.

Beyond that, the new firm plans on expanding their brand of influence.

“We’re going to also have a bigger presence in New York,” he says. “We’ll be holding appraisal clinics, exhibitions and our auctions will focus more on the East Coast.”

Martin also promises an aggressive marketing plan for sales, “a return to top-quality catalog publications, featuring detailed color photographs and descriptions,” and a renewed emphasis on customer service and top-line product.

Fitting nicely into its renewed focus on top-shelf offerings, will be the firm’s September firearms auction, highlighting the renowned Al Cali Collection of Colt Firearms. The auction will be simulcast between San Francisco and New York. For this auction, Martin and his crew will exhibit some of the top guns in New York.

“This is an $8-10 million sale, and we’re still getting consignors calling in. This is one of those multi-million dollar sales that will see some of the finest Colts in existence.”

The Cali collection is showcased in a 200-page volume, American Arms Collectors Colt Percussion Revolvers and Their Rivals The Al Cali Collection., published in December 2009, by renowned firearms expert R.L. Wilson. Martin wrote the forward to the book.

Martin, a member of the Colts Collectors Association, owes much of his life to the Colt revolver. He sold at auction, a Serial No. 1 Colt Single Action Army “Peacemaker” revolver for $862,500, one of the highest prices ever paid for a firearm.

It was also a Colt revolver, which a 12-year-old Martin would buy in a northern California junk shop that started one of his “serious hobbies.” His mother told him that he she would give him $10 for the gun, priced at $15, if he could talk the owner down. From there, Martin never looked back.

In 1985, Martin was seriously interested in three important guns that were part of the renowned Parker Lyon Pony Express Museum. The owners refused to “part out” the museum, so Martin ended up buying the entire museum.

Publicity surrounding the purchase traveled rapidly throughout the antique world. Martin was approached by Osher, the owner of Butterfield and Butterfield Auctioneers in San Francisco, in which he had been a client. Hoping that his company could sell the rest of the collection, Osher and John Gallo, then executive vice president of Butterfields, struck a deal with Martin. The resulting auction generated the company’s best-selling catalog at the time and realized three times the prices Martin expected.

Clearly, the sale was an indicator that public interest in Western artifacts had certainly arrived. Martin became formally associated with Butterfield & Butterfield in 1986 as a consultant, with “arms and armor” becoming a separate corporate department. By the early 1990s, Martin’s group had become one of the largest and most prestigious purveyors of arms and armor in the world.

While the association of Osher, Gallo and Martin might have continued indefinitely, according to company accounts, in 1999 Butterfields was purchased by eBay which had become interested in complementing its online business with a “bricks and mortar” auction house.

Osher and Gallo, both ardent fly fishermen, immediately hung out a “Gone Fishin’” sign. The pair was to have several successful outings throughout the world; but, on one particular float trip they hooked onto the “next big idea.” Why not, using the clientele they had established during their career, and working with Martin – an emerging authority in historical arms and armory – establish a firm which specialized solely in high value antique arms?

In January 2002, the “Gone Fishin’” sign was replaced with the “Greg Martin Auctions” shingle.

Coming around full circle now, Martin and his crew are looking forward to another successful run in antique arms and armor.

“We are very pleased to return to the management roots of our company,” Martin says. “Now that our original founding team is back at the helm of the company, we look forward to returning to the standards of excellence on which we built the company.”

Contact: (415) 777-4867

www.gregmartinauctions.com

Eric C. Rodenberg