NRA Members and supporters streamed into the lobby of the America's Center Thursday afternoon in St. Louis, Mo., with their rare and potentially valuable firearms in tow for NRA's Antique Guns and Gold Showcase. From the historically significant to the unique and the just plain weird, all firearms were given a free appraisal by experts from the National Firearms Museum, NRA Gun Collectors Committee and Universal Coin & Bullion.

Check out some of the most interesting pieces we spotted while peeking into gun cases and backpacks across the lobby:

Japanese Model 1891 Mosin-Nagant Rifle
A Farmington, Mo., couple brought a Model 1891 Mosin-Nagant rifle manufactured by Remington in 1918. The gun has an incredible history: It was originally made in New York under a czarist Russian arms contract, then traveled to Russia where it may have been used in the Russian Revolution.

From there it likely went to Siberia and eventually on to Japan. Its box magazine was removed, and at some point it became a single-shot training rifle. Bearing a Japanese character on its buttstock (depicted in the photo below), this Model 1891 is still chambered in 7.62x54 mm R and the bore is in good condition. Acquired in Japan by an American serviceman at the end of World War II and brought home, this well-traveled, not commonly seen rifle is something the experts on hand had never seen before.

Model 1941 Johnson Rifle & Bayonet

A Marine Corps artifact collector and St. Louis native brought along a Johnson Model of 1941 rifle and what appeared to be the original bayonet in its scarce leather scabbard. Some Johnson rifles were used by Marine Paratroopers in World World II, and the bayonet adds a huge premium to the rifle's potential worth. Both items were purchased by the current owner from an M1 Carbine collector in the 1990s, and the two together were valued at around $8,000 based on condition.