My local dealer is a fair, reasonable and honest man who acts with discretion and will not break a confidence. He does, however, know nothing about the fairly complex, arcane, and specialised world of vintage English guns: finer details like wall thickness and bore measurements, as well as the fact that provenance can sometimes be determined from consulting, with a serial number, the holders of the records, escape him. He tends to wildly mis-price such guns in this part of the market. I do, never the less, have a good working relationship with him, and he looks after me.

The scenario is this:
3 guns
1: a beat up, mismatched 12b Boswell hammer gun;
2: a near mint, cased 12b Boswell BLNE, false sideplated, damascus barrelled live pigeon gun whose case bears the name of a prominent local family;
3: a near mint, cased, 12b Henry Atkin BLNE game gun
have turned up at this dealer, and apparently the seller is taking them to a couple in the district to gain the best price.
AG&L got back to me on the S/N of gun 3, and it looks like I've been able to figure out a name and contact details for the seller (the surname with gun 2 turns out to be the maiden name of gun 3's original owner's wife too)
Last two would be OQ 3-4ish, CC 2-3ish.
I'd love to own guns 2 and 3, and could readily find a buyer for 1; I think it would be a shame for the guns to lose their history and leave the district. I can't afford to right now though, and suspect my dealer will be seduced by the names and overprice them.
Would it be poor form for me to contact the seller to try to cut some sort of deal to hold them until I can offer a fair price to avoid the dealer getting them?
Cheers,
RG

Last edited by cadet; 06/28/08 06:04 PM.