doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Value of Restored SxS's ?

What is your opinion of the "retail sale" value of a 100% completely restored (top quality work) 12 gauge SxS (M&F 28"):

a. L.C. Smith Field Grade

b. Fox Sterlingworth

Thanks for yor input/estimate...

JERRY

Are you a collector or a shooter? If you are looking at it from the collectors vantage point then they guns have no real collectors value. They are in a way a faked example of a high condition gun. If you are a shooter they they have left the range of shooter grade guns, sound gun with little finish, and you have a gun that looks great but is not fish or fowl.

To me they enter the ego range of gun. How much money do you want to put into a gun that you can be proud of shooting. Not as a rare collectible, pristine factory original example, but as a real nice looking example of what the gun should look like if well cared for. Kind of like a 40 year old with full plastic surgery make over, complete implants and a nice red dress. Not to be confused with a natural 25 year old with the same equipment but a very nice package all the same.

I do not care for all the hype about 100% restored guns. They are not factory original and are hence not rare. There may be 1,000 high condition LC Smiths, in near perfect condition. There a 100,000 others that can be made into that if you want to have them refinished to 100%. Cost money and time, but most could be restored. So from a value point they have to be in the 90-95% range at tops. Problem is that it cost more than that to have many of them restored to the level that you are talking about. So the seller has to try to get his money out of the project gun and has to ask for 98-100% money for the gun. Some pay it and some do not. If above 90% Bluebook price I would just keep looking. For just a few dollars more you could buy a mint gun instead of a refinished gun. But when you get right down to it 90% or lower condition guns are much more fun to me. I get to shoot them and do not have to worry about every little new ding that they get. About like my well weathered spouse, whom I love and would not trade for any high condition other spouse.

This how I feel about used guns and their value, including your Elsie and Fox SW. When this board perked my interest some six years ago in the doubles of my youth, I was most interested in owning only used guns, preferably the so-called American classics. Members were of great assistance to me.

As a gunner, I was concerned with condition, original or restored. I am no longer in the market because I have what I want. But I wouldn't pay a premium for a 100 per cent restored gun when there are lots of good originals around for $800. I believe Roy Eckrose's auction reports confirm this view.

Looking back, I probably paid more than some of the guns were worth. They were a good buy for me, however, because the guns I sought were going with me to the blind. This does not answer your question about the Elsie and Fox. It's only an indication of one gunner's feelings about those great guns. I have both.

I don't know if you had this work done on a couple of your guns, or your looking at buying one of the two options.
But I'd say they both would have a retail value of somewhere between $1800.00 and $2200.00. That is my opinion.

I think there is room for a third position in KY Jon's discussion. I too like some of the older guns for their shooting qualities, but certainly don't want to pay collector quality prices for a gun collectors can enjoy. On the other hand, as much as I hunt with my guns I seem to have a knack for not signicantly beating them up just by hunting with them. So a properly restored gun, bought at an appropriate price suits me because I just don't like carrying around something ugly several others have already mistreated. So I have a Parker 20g VHE O frame that looks about like it did when it left the Remington factory 67 years ago - after hunting,skeet and clays since I acquired it in 1984.

You're alot more nimble that me Jerry-I've yet to fall down in AZ and not land on a rock! At least in KS and S. Dakota you can usually pivot toward a mud hole.
I don't mind my 'shooters' looking like me; well used if not abused, but still got all the parts working

With the prices of unaltered, and truely originals guns going throught the roof, a restored gun, or a gun that will be restored might be a person's only hope of a classic American gun.

I am the "buyer."

I enjoy hunting with SxS's, and prefer they look attractive. One can purchase a vaiety of new SxS's in the $800 to $2,000 range -- or choose a "remanufactured" American double from the early 20th century at a similar price. I think of it as though I'm purchasing a "new SxS" from a local hardware store in 1910, albeit at an inflation adjusted price.

I'd rather hunt with a redone American SxS than a new Brittany or HUGLU. Those imports may function fine, be a good value,and suit other's needs, but they don't make me smile.

Last year, from this board, I bought a nice Lefever GE 12 that had been very well redone by Buck Hamlin for $1,800, and am very pleased with it. It went to South Dakota with me this fall, and we did well together; also nearby in Illinois, for a total of 50+ pheasants this year. I think that is pretty good for a 1917 gun!

In the truest sense, these are not collector's items, but they are fun to own and shoot. Even though redone, I still feel a pride of ownership, and my hunting partners ogle accordingly. If I were ever fortunate enough to find a new-in-the-box Sterlingworth or Elsie, I'd probably be hesitant to actually hunt with it. It WOULD belong in a collection in someone ELSE's safe.

Priced in the $1,500 to $2,200 range, these redone old classics seem to meet my needs. I was hoping to find out if these prices matched other's expectations, or if I'm paying too high a price. I don't look at these oldies as investments, but I don't want to be too darn foolish.

Anyhow, thanks for the input.

JERRY

Quality of the work is going to play a big part in the price....one mans idea of quality work is another mans idea of junk.