"With so many guns and brand names you have to speak in general terms about a firm's over-all body of work." - spoken like a member of the middle of the market pack. That is exactly how the bulk of the market spends its money.
"A handful of top notchers out of many thousands does not pull the maker/seller up by the boot straps into another level." - the market supports this as I find that % of production of high Original Quality is a factor in Brand Value.
"There are those who think thay can point out the rare quality in a maker's line-up of also rans." - I would be one of those, Small Bore would be another, and many others here believe this about themselves.
"Could be, but I doubt it - nobody sees that many guns - unless your among the rich and famous and have special viewing privileges to the obscure." I am neither rich nor famous. I doubt that my viewing privledges are particularly special. However, I most assuredly "view" every gun I possibly can and I endever to learn something from each viewing. The market pricing method I use was designed specifically to "jump start" learning from viewing. Dig and peers view enough guns to intuitively understand the market and price from this intuition. I don't view that many guns and require a structure to get more from each viewing. I post from the method here to test it and to help anyone else needing information. I will gladly adjust the method's factors to better data.
Brand Value has a two fold influence on price. Original Quality and Current Condition each have a twenty fold influence. Guess where I think you should be spending effort to learn more!!
