doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Would you pay a premium?

If you found a gun by a famous maker that's 100 years old, that seems to have not been shot or at least rarely, looks virtually new, would you pay a premium? It's not a best gun by any means and it's a 12ga. ?

Yes, I love those century old guns that look like the day they came off of the shelf the first time.

If you like the gun, buy it. Fine condition, age, and a great maker combine to make the ideal piece.

Depends on how much "Premium" the seller wants...

Only if I liked the gun and only if the premium was reasonable under the circumstances.

Let me put it this way. How much of a premium would you feel ok paying? 500, a 1000? There's a price where I'd say I got a great deal. A price I'd be willing to pay and feel ok about. He's still above that.

I think of it more as a percentage of what a normal condition gun of the same make/quality would sell for. which for me would range between 15% and 50% depending on the gun and the asking price.

I pay a premium for condition. Would you pay a premium for a used car with very low miles? Most would. Same goes in guns in my mind for a multitude of reasons. You leave out too many details to give an accurate answer but a like new Purdey is worth well more than 1000$ more than a well used one. Same goes for a small bore graded Parker. Depends upon on the gun and the premium but I certainly assign a premium to high condition.
Steve

Well it's not a Purdy or a sub gauge Parker. The maker did make best guns and it's not one of those. It is a 12ga. boxlock with pretty much 100% engraving, but not best gun type of engraving. In between I would say but I'm far from an expert. I'd say it's your typical Birmingham boxlock. I think it's priced about 35 t0 45 % above what a gun of that vintage with normal use would run.

Probably slightly more of a premium than I would place on condition for the gun you describe but not out of line in my way of looking at things. If it fits you and has all the features you desire I might consider it if I were gun shopping.

Maybe your idea of it being priced 35 to 45% above what it should be priced at is not accurate but rather what you want to pay. Why not give more details such as who is the maker and what the asking price is so others could give a more accurate value.
If you just want to know would it be worth a premium because of condition, most would say yes. If you want more accurate opinions as to actual value, more info is needed.

Let me guess- Steve Barnett? Robin Hollow? any number of the high-end Gun shoppes in: Houston, Dallas, etc.?? Don't have to consider Redeo Drive in Bev. Hills, do we? Anti-Gun Kalifornia!! Wait him out, most % high-end dealers want a solid cash flow, and tax season is a comin'! RWTF. And if I may make so bold- it's Purdey for fine guns- Purdy for either fine paintbrushes, or Idaho ranchers who hunted with Ernest Hemingway and his friends!!

The similar guns I've searched for, go for say, 2 and a half to around 4 at the top. As far as giving more information. I'm a little leary of that. A while back i did and the next day , when I checked on it it was gone. Made me wonder if I didn't alert it to someone and they snatched it up immediately. Might just be in my head tho.

For that much of a premium I'd make sure it was as presented.

No one else can tell you how much premium to pay.
The seller has no responsibility to meet your expectations of suitable premium.
Some sellers are modestly priced, and some unfailingly high priced, each with their clientele.

Not if it is a 12.


Best,
Ted

everyone always says you can get a deal on a 12,maybe at an auction ,but dealers don't move much.

Why do you like this gun?

Smart man. I've learned to ask only very general questions until the gun is in my hands. And even then, you just might end up getting accused of cheating the seller, even if you were high bidder in an open internet auction. Just the way it is when you are in any place with a number of faux gentlemen.

The amount of premium you pay for a pristine and all original gun is totally dependent upon the make and grade. I'd pay a lot more of a premium for a pristine higher graded Parker than a pristine field grade Crescent. If high condition is very important, that premium may be quite reasonable compared to the cost of restoration or professional refinishing, and you have the added benefit of greater collector value.

well it's light, good barrel thickness, 28" barrels,good stock measurements, cast on because i'm a lefty, don't see many cast on, decent wood. with the myriad action shapes it's got one i like,looks like 100% case colored

Smart man. I've learned to ask only very general questions until the gun is in my hands. And even then, you just might end up getting accused of cheating the seller, even if you were high bidder in an open internet auction. Just the way it is when you are in any place with a number of faux gentlemen.

I recently bid on a pair of damn near pristine Westley Richards with a friend of mine. we were each going to take one. with that dam 15 minute rule,everytime it got close to ending the same guy would raise it 25 bucks. we went on like that for 3 hours. We finally gave up around 2 in the morning

That is just one bidding strategy that is utilized by some buyers, and a reason I don't like the 15 minute rule. But it worked for the guy who won, and he played by the rules.

The 15 minute rule saved my ass a few years ago when I was going back and forth on a John Nichols graded hammer gun. I was hundreds of dollars over where I had hoped to buy it when I noticed that one of the hammers was a non-matching replacement. What a rookie mistake! It wasn't mentioned in the description, and the pictures didn't focus on it. I knew an original with the same engraving would be near impossible to find. When I saw it, I was high bidder, and hoped the other guy would bid again. To my relief, he did, and he won. About 6 months later, I saw that he listed the same gun, with a starting bid hundreds less than he had paid.

I've been amazed by the psychology of auction buyers for years, whether they were live farm and estate auctions, or internet auctions. I don't care to stand in the sun, or in sleet and cold all day, just so I can end up paying more than retail on a used item. But some folks do. All you can do is be entertained by it, and hope for the days that the fools leave early or don't show up. You'll never figure it out.

That was the first time i actually bid one, well my friend did the bidding. The thing that suckex was all had to do was bid . He didn't even need to beat my bid i followed the bidding history and i was thinking wtf is this

If you've been looking for 6 months and this one floats your boat, you may want to pay.

Ken