Robert Lee’s hands tremble slightly as he slowly reaches down to admire the contents of the polished wooden case on the table in front of him. Inside, gleaming with the same luster as it had the day he first acquired it, rests Lee’s first Colt firearm, an 1855 sidehammer revolver. Complete with small compartments for ammunition, a circular container of metal-lined caps, and other tools necessary to fire the pistol, the case and the gun look just as they did the day his mother gave them to him when he was 12 years old. "It has all the accessories: the L-shaped screwdriver here, the bullet mold, and the caps. And it all still works," Lee says softly, briefly picking up the revolver’s key and turning it in his hands before gently returning it to the padded, purple velvet-lined compartment of the display case.
When his mother first came into possession of the revolver, Lee was 8 years old. But the pistol had a place in his family for far longer than that. The gun originally belonged to Lee’s great-grandfather, and it’s his name and military rank—Capt. E.B. Huntington—that is inscribed on the gun’s backstrap. Lee acknowledges that the revolver had a profound impact on his life and contributed to his appreciation for Colt firearms, but surprisingly, it was not his first gun.
That distinction belongs to a Winchester .22 caliber bolt-action rifle, a gun that Lee acquired as a 10-year-old by selling magazine subscriptions and one that he still owns. It was the vivid hunting tales that Jack O’Connor penned for Outdoor Life that piqued Lee’s interest in the trappings of the outdoorsman’s lifestyle. He first saw the magazine when a young craftsman, who worked at his family’s Long Island home, left a copy on his workbench. Once the craftsman discovered Lee’s interest in the subject, he brought in more issues and other publications for the youngster to read. One of those additional publications was struggling with its circulation at the time and posted a note advertising a dollar’s worth of credit applicable to any advertiser’s product in exchange for a new subscription sale. Lee jumped at the opportunity, and over the course of a few days he sold a number of subscriptions to, as he describes them, "bewildered" relatives and friends of the family.
Lee submitted the new subscription orders to the publication and requested the Winchester in return. A few weeks later, the rifle arrived in the mail. After watching their son remove the gun from its packaging, Lee’s parents could have insisted that he return it. Instead, they only insisted that he take shooting lessons and learn the proper ways to handle and care for it. That decision fostered Lee’s budding interest in firearms and, as fate would have it, set him on a journey that later would define his life.
The first thing a visitor sees after walking through the door of Robert Lee’s 80,000-square-foot showroom is a trio of stuffed, male Marco Polo sheep. The sheep are the fruits of a safari that Lee conducted through the Pamir Mountains in central Asia in 1980 and represent one of his most prized hunting accomplishments. Beyond the sheep stands a wall of additional trophies punctuated by the bust of a bull elephant that looks out over a vast accumulation of more than 200 rare and historically significant exotic automobiles. At front and center sits a gray 1937 Horch 853 Voll & Ruhrbeck Sport Cabriolet, a car that earned Best of Show honors at the 2009 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
Sharing space with the Horch at the front of the auto display is a vehicle that, at first glance, seems out of place among the rows of luxury marques, the likes of which include Bentley, Rolls-Royce, and Ferrari. However, the 1962 Land Rover appears right at home among the showroom’s many hunting trophies. The prolific hunter–turned–gun collector customized the vehicle for a safari business that he operated during the middle decades of the 20th century, and it’s what those closest to the collector consider a perfect example of his desire to improve upon almost any item’s existing design and craftsmanship.
Though its pieces seldom are on display, Lee’s broad assemblage of of firearms is close by, too, safely stored in an adjacent private room. "When it comes to firearms, you find the top collectors are also interested in cars, and oftentimes the top car collectors also like guns. But Bob puts the two together like nobody else ever did," says R.L. Wilson, a longtime friend of the collector, who coauthored with Lee a series of books chronicling the history of firearms. The two recently published The Art of the Gun: Magnificent Colts, a two-volume series that authorizes Samuel Colt’s legacy by highlighting the most important pieces within Lee’s collection. In regards to Lee’s showroom, Wilson believes it’s beyond compare. "It’s overwhelming," he says. "There’s no space like it."
Indeed, it’s hard to imagine any other collector having the ability to replicate such a space. The red carpeted showroom, discreetly located on the outskirts of Reno, Nev., blends together many of Lee’s interests and lifelong endeavors. More than 100 hunting trophies decorate the walls and floor spaces of the facility, and collectively, they represent more than half a century of hunting expeditions throughout five continents. Naturally, Lee’s interest in firearms for many years was dedicated to those with a connection to hunting, but it took only a matter of minutes for all of that to change.
Serving as the general manager of Lee’s collection for the last 21 years, Scott Bergan explains that up until the early 1990s Lee’s interest always leaned toward long firearms and artistically engraved sporting guns. That interest dates to the late 1950s, when Lee commissioned Josef Fugger to engrave a bespoke James Purdey and Sons .465 Nitro Express double rifle. The carvings that Fugger produced reflected the adventures that Lee experienced while hunting on his first African safari three years before, and they opened many enthusiasts’ eyes to the possibilities that such custom engraving could offer. When Lee received the finished piece in 1958—one of the first of many custom-built and engraved sporting guns that he would acquire—it was accompanied by a letter from C. Harry Lawrence, the managing director for the British firearm manufacturer, who wrote: "When one is building a handmade rifle, perfection must always be the ultimate target. In the case of this magnificent rifle … it had my personal attention at every stage."
For decades, it was that style of gun that consumed Lee’s efforts as a collector, but during a Bonhams and Butterfields auction in the early 1990s, one lot took Lee’s firearm collecting in a new direction. The influential item was a Colt-manufactured display board, circa 1877, which was used in the Manhattan-based firearms store Schuyler, Hartley & Graham. The board, which included 46 examples of early Colt Percussion firearms, was similar to those used at previous world’s fairs, including London’s Great Exhibition of 1851, and it promoted the company’s technological advancements. "During the auction we were just doing our thing—buying what we normally bought—and then the Colt board came up for sale," Bergan recalls. "Lo and behold, [Bob] bought it. Usually, collectors enter at the bottom or a moderate level and their tastes [later] develop and become refined, but on that day, we entered the market at or near the very top. It was a very defining moment."
At the time, Lee already owned a few noteworthy Colt models, including the 1855 sidehammer revolver from his childhood, but there was something about that Colt display that struck a chord with him. The way Bergan explains it, Lee always was—and remains—attracted to the items that "make his heart skip a beat. That’s what the collecting experience is about for him; it’s about the passion and emotion." From then on, Lee directed more of his attention to acquiring the rarest and most noteworthy Colt firearms, and over the next two decades he amassed a collection that, according to Wilson, is one of the few that illustrates the history of Samuel Colt’s enterprise.
Today, Lee’s Colt collection comprises about 200 guns, many with a significant provenance attached. Given such an assemblage, one might expect it to be an arduous—if not impossible—task for Lee to choose a favorite. Surprisingly, such is not the case. "It’s easy; like that," he says, snapping his fingers and pointing to a Colt model 1851 Navy revolver. The pistol was engraved by Gustave Young in 1853 and it’s the mate to the Presentation Navy revolver that Samuel Colt gifted to Czar Nicholas I of Russia in 1854. Having such a strong historical connection no doubt adds immeasurable value to the gun, but if you ask Wilson, he’ll tell you that Lee’s example is more impressive than the one that now rests in Saint Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum. "Bob’s gun is better than the czar’s because Bob’s has an extra barrel and its original case."
If Lee had to pick two additional favorites in his collection, he would highlight a pair of single-action army revolvers that were engraved by Frank Hendricks Jr. over a four-year period from 1990 to 1993. Made from sculpted steel with extended ivory grips, the pistols are most striking for their elaborate Western motifs and scrolls carved from four distinct colors of gold. Those carvings support Lee’s claim that the most talented firearms engravers are those who currently apply the craft, and because of that, Lee values many of his prized pieces because of his personal connections with the artisans who crafted them. In fact, that’s a theme that weaves its way through many of Lee’s collections.
Most enthusiasts who collect silver parade saddles are motivated by a love of fine craftsmanship, the allure of the Wild West, and the spirit of the great American cowboy. Predictably, Robert Lee embodies an affinity for all of those things. But unlike most collectors, he also can share stories of meeting Edward Bohlin, one of the country ’s most well-known saddle makers. During the 1930s and on through the 1950s, Bohlin outfitted many of Hollywood’s most famous cowboys—Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, to name a few—as well as royalty from a variety of foreign countries. When Lee met the famed silversmith at a New York circus during the 1940s, Lee was just a teenager and could afford to purchase only a modest belt buckle. But he was captivated by the saddles that Bohlin had created, and he aspired to own one. Today, when Lee strolls along the red carpeted walkways that take him past rows of immaculately restored vintage automobiles, he also passes a row of Bohlin silver parade saddles and jackets.
Similarly, when Lee arrives at a section of the showroom dedicated to his Ferrari collection, he pauses in front of a 1956 Ferrari 250 GT Boano Convertible, the first Ferrari he ever purchased. Lee first set eyes on the car at the New York Auto Show in 1956, but the backstory begins in 1955, when, en route to his first African safari, Lee made a brief stop in Italy and met Enzo Ferrari. As Lee tells the story, Ferrari insisted that if Lee should ever want one of his automobiles, it would be Ezno who would sell it to him. A year later, when Lee fell in love with the Boano in New York and discovered that it wasn’t for sale, he contacted Enzo. Enzo, as promised, took care of the rest.
There was a period of time when Lee feverishly built up his collections, and as his wife, Anne, attests, every day was a new adventure. "I wasn’t always present when all the gun shopping was going on, but I was always present for all the cars and that was just exciting and wild," she says. "The paddles were flying and Bob was buying."
These days he makes his acquisitions less frequently, though he still aggressively seeks out custom-engraved modern sporting guns. He’ll continue to expand his Colt collection as well, but he’s tight-lipped when it comes to what he’s after next. As he explains, tipping his hand would give his competitors an advantage, which is why at auctions in recent years Lee has let others bid on his behalf. In those circumstances he sometimes was present, seated in the balcony and, with the assistance of a cell phone, instructing his bidder on the main floor below. Other times he would place the bids over the phone himself, even if he was traveling half a world away.
Talk to any arms or armor expert and you can be sure they’ll know the name Robert Lee. Ask any established firearms collector, and they’ll point to Lee’s collection as one of the best, even if they’ve never seen it themselves. It would be easy for Lee to flaunt such notoriety, but that’s never been his style. As Anne explains, he never made a purchase for the headlines. "I’m not going to say the man doesn’t have an ego; we all do," she says. "But he’s very private. He’s very happy when people are impressed, but that’s not his initial motive. It’s not to impress other people; it’s really for his own satisfaction.
"I don’t think that he feels that he’s done [collecting]," she continues. "I don’t think he’s ever thought that he’s done. Not a collector; they’re insatiable."
A COLLECTOR'S AMBITION
Some collections develop organically; others are the product of precise calculation.
Most collectors don’t start out with specific intentions to amass a collection. They’ll spend years acquiring items that they love, and it’s only then that they discover that they’ve created a noteworthy collection. However, not every enthusiast approaches collecting in that fashion. At a Dallas auction of arms and armor hosted by Greg Martin Auctions/Heritage Auctions in September, a Paterson holster revolver, model no. 5—considered to be the finest surviving example of Samuel Colt’s first revolver, produced in 1836—sold for $977,500. More surprising than the gavel price, however, is the fact that the revolver was sold to a West Coast mogul who specifically was looking to start a Colt firearms collection. “Prices like these show that serious buyers know that pieces like these are real investments, certain to appreciate in value as the years progress, and certainly worth serious consideration when it comes time to bid,” says Greg Martin, the auction house’s president of arms and armor.
Colt firearms have commanded strong prices at auctions for years, which no doubt reassures collectors who elect to spend almost $1 million for highly sought-after examples. For a Detroit-based Beretta enthusiast, however, the opportunity to own what could someday be a highly valuable pistol required a more significant leap of faith. The 46-year-old acquired his first firearm, a Beretta 9 mm handgun, 11 years ago and had procured a few additional Beretta models since then. But the various guns that he purchased always were acquired specifically for target or wing shooting; he wasn’t interested in museum-quality display pieces.
That all changed when he visited the Beretta Gallery in Milan in 2004. There he saw a Beretta Gallery pistol—the first of a limited-edition series made earlier that year—and immediately thought of a scene from Oliver Stone’s 1987 film Wall Street, where the character Gordon Gekko reveals one of his prized possessions: a Luger pistol. “The rarest pistol in the world,” Gekko boasts to fellow corporate raider Sir Larry Wildman. “Only six of them were ever manufactured.”
The Detroit enthusiast wasn’t foolish enough to believe the pistol he was looking at would ever approach such notoriety, but he felt for sure it had the chance to increase in value, given its serial number. At first, the gallery wouldn’t sell him the pistol because it would be incompatible with American ammunition. So he agreed to let Beretta make him the first American version. After giving it a day’s thought, the hobbyist decided he wanted the original Italian version, too. “I never had any intentions of firing it,” he says. “I just thought it was a beautiful handgun and wanted to own it.”
He spent just over $3,000 for each pistol, both of which were distinguished by their charcoal blue slides and barrels, light gray aluminum frames, olive-wood grips, and gold-inlaid “Beretta Gallery” insignias along the top of the barrels. Today, those pistols are valued at more than $5,000 apiece, and according to Robert Booz, the international director of Beretta galleries, they likely will continue to appreciate. “Because they’re so rare, they’re going to have a much higher value than what he paid for them,” Booz says. “We have no intention of producing them again.”
Only 10 pistols were manufactured in the series, and the Detroit enthusiast has the first two displayed in his home office, accompanied by a letter written by Franco Beretta, head of the Italian firearms company, which highlights the pistols’ unique characteristics. The collector says he always was content to own the first two pistols in the series, but when asked if he’s given any thought to seeking out the remaining eight, his answer conveys an ambition that defines all collectors. “You never know,” he says. “With Beretta’s direction, maybe I would try to acquire the other eight.”