doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com British shotguns brand name and brand value

Hey folks, does anybody has any list of British gunmakers brand name and brand values accordingly? For example Charles Hellis brand name has brand value level three, wondering if anybody or any source has information on this.

Kem1988, I sorta invented this system of valuation as a short cut compared to the handling of thousands of gun as needed to develop intuitive understanding of values. I did a market research project based mostly on auction results to determine what factors were the major influence on value. It boiled down to name brand for Brand Value (BV), Original Quality (OQ) of the gun as made, and Current Condition (CC).

Boss, H&H, Purdey, and Woodward are BV1.

Westley Ricahrds, Dickson, Rigby, Grant , Beesley, Powell, Atkin, Churchill, Henry, Lancaster, Evans, Watson, Wilks, Greener, Boswell, Gibbs, and Lang are BV2.

All the rest of the brand names will value at BV3.

Do note that the name brand does not determine OQ. Gun makers made and/or sold a wide range of quality grades as needed to satisfy their paying customers. Boss, possibly, made and sold only best work SLE's. On the other hand, it should be no surprise to find a best work gun from any of the BV3 makers.


Does that answer your question or are you asking why Charles Hellis is BV3? I have a good explanation but it takes a bit of time. If you wish to discuss it, post back and I'll post it.

Hope this helps and that we can fully answer your questions.

DDA

Hey Rocketman, i came up with this in another post and wondered if it was literature based. Now that i learned you sorta invented this system i would say really good job since this is a good way of determining gun values based on basic factors. Though i completely understand how this works, i only have one question in mind. There were gun retailers in England such as Army&Navy and they were ordering other gunmakers to make their guns. As far as i know i can count Westley Richards,Greener,Vickers,Hodges,P. Webley, Webley Scott and some others. Since the guns were made by different makers, is there any way of classifying for ex Army&Navy shotguns as brand name value or is it simpy BV3?

Brand name hierarchies are a way to pay a financial penalty.

Take the Holland Dominion as an example. It was made by an outside firm. If it bears the real maker's name the market values is less, yet objectively it is the very same item, and probably more valuable as a product since it tells the whole truth about itself.

But the market rules and the penalties are paid, which is OK since the setup leaves some real bargains for the knowledgeable who are not brand affected.

Hi, Kem1988. BV is based on the name on the gun regardless of maker or seller. There seems to be a large segment of the market that relies heavily on the brand name as "information" about the gun. This is not unlike most markets where many buyers are only marginally informed. As Shotgunlover points out above you will pay for the name. If you are indifferent to name, then inform yourself well on OQ and CC and you can shoot BV3 of the same quality and condition as BV1 for about half the price or 2/3 the price of BV2. From the quality and condition view point only such guns then represent bargains.

DDA

The W&S boxlocks seem like a perfect example. If the action is stamped Army & Navy, the gun is worth half of what it would be if it were stamped W&S. And if it's stamped H&H, it might be twice the value of one stamped W&S, or 4x an A&N. Kinda crazy, but people really want to show their friends their new "Holland and Holland." The actual quality is a footnote.

Ran into a Kolar this weekend that was proofed in London. Strange to see a super heavy USA gun with London proofs. No doubt more valuable than one proofed in an industrial city

bill