About William Dykes Antiques
William ( Bill) Dykes started his career 60 years ago collecting and trading antique coins. He still harbors fond memories of winning the wood-working award as a junior in high school shop class and being asked to restore antique furniture for the principal and teachers. A few years later he was given his father’s antique revolver which began a lifelong love of collecting and dealing in antique firearms. Bill purchased his first 1851 Navy Colt revolver at the age of 18 for $12.00 dollars and later sold it for $25.00. He earned his college tuition by dealing in antique weapons. In those early years he uncovered many rare pieces, including an unusual silver mounted bayonet sheath with bayonet. Within days of college graduation he purchased a collection of over 350 antique weapons and with the sale of one Colt dragoon he paid off the balance of his college loan. His interests in Americana have grown from the American Kentucky Rifle to the full gamut of furniture, textiles and accessories.
In 1969 he retired from engineering for a full time career in the antiques business. He spent the next three years traveling America, Europe and Asia in search of rare objects and opened his first antiques shop in Dallas in the early 1970’s. A few years later he opened an antiques restoration business that employed five restorers and did work for dealers and museums. Bill has also worked with many well-known antiques dealers in the United States and Europe, notably John Walton and Albert Sack. He can boast of being one of a few who spent time at the Sack workshop in New York.
In 1983 Bill expanded to Maine and later established the Wiscasset Antiques Center in the 1734 Groves-Hodge House in historic Wiscasset. His new base gave him access to the New England coast and the early furniture and artifacts of the region. As an example, Bill acquired a 1st Model Brown Bess musket that had been carried at Valley Forge and attendant diary, found in a New Hampshire home, which recently was sold to the American Revolution Museum in Yorktown, Virginia.
In 2016 Bill lost his beloved wife, who will be forever missed. He continues to travel and to work in evaluating family estates throughout the country. Years ago he found an extremely rare Confederate presentation saber belonging to an officer serving under General Van Doren and returned it to the family. Recently he placed the infamous Cole Younger revolver at auction and obtained top dollar for the family who owned it. He was also involved in the placement of an important Lafayette sword whose sale required diligent research and careful marketing. Shown above, Bill is acquiring a pair of President Madison’s dueling pistols from a descendant of Madison’s family on the steps of Saragossa Plantation. His has been, and continues to be, a fascinating journey.