Local StoriesJuly 13, 2026

Community Highlights: Meet Walter Holt of HGWTllc

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Walter Holt.

Hi Walter, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started out buying and selling online, as a supplement to my career at that time. Along the way I was offered a position as an auctioneer, for a local estate auction company. I worked with them for a couple of years and felt I could do things differently and in my mind better, so I branched out on my own. I started originally just doing on site estate auctions. Around 2018 I began doing some online auctions as part of the services we offered, and then during the COVID shutdowns in St Louis County we started doing only online auctions. During this time we began focusing less on estates and more towards our Gallery auctions. So what started as a side hustle flipping out of my garage was built into full time career with seven employees

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There was never a smooth path, my daughter really believes owning your own business is like farming. When it rains we think it is flooding and if it doesn’t its a drought. Plus we are often working with people who are often going thru challenging times in their life. Moving, liquidating their families estate or selling their lifetime collections, so when emotions get high it can be difficult

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We began as strictly estate liquidation firm, but we have transitioned into more collections, with a focus on records, sports memorabilia, guns, trains and toys, coins and Beer memorabilia.

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
We have been truly fortunate throughout this journey, there has been many times, since the beginning where, I truly felt we were at a tipping point and it could go either way. Luckily most of those have broke in our favor

Contact Info:

Website: https://www.hgwtllc.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/havegavelwilltravel

Gavel inside a red circle with the text 'HGWT' and slogan 'Have Gavel Will Travel'.

Room filled with stacks of books on tables and shelves, with framed pictures on the wall and a window showing greenery.

Wooden chair with slatted back and seat, placed on hardwood floor next to a wall and table.

Vintage slot machine with yellow and gray colors on a wooden table in a store, surrounded by shelves and equipment.

Green bottle with red and white label on a scale, viewed from the side, with black background.

Dark wooden bar with ornate carvings, marble countertop, and hanging lights, in a room with high ceiling and curtains.

Shelves stocked with boxes of baseballs, some in cardboard boxes and others loose, with a blue storage bin on the floor.

Dining room with a glass table, six wooden chairs, a wooden sideboard, and a large empty bookshelf, illuminated by a hanging light fixture.

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