We are paying the price for the notion that a hard used sporting tool could be an " ïnvestment" plus the idea of collectibility.
Investment- compare the value of 300 dollars invested in a Dow Jones index linked fund, at any time after 1900, with the appreciation of a 1910 Purdey 100 guinea gun. Factor in the liquidity factor, ie you can sell the shares in seconds, the gun not so easy, and the idiocy of the investment thing is highlighted.
Colectibility in a bespoke item is a weird notion. But it was sold to the masses and they responded by filling bespoke makers' order books in the good times. The makers in turn realised that their brand name was worth a pile and exploited it to the hilt. No one figured that this seemingly lucrative practice was building up a stock of mint items in collectors' hands and that stock would be unloaded onto the market at some point. We are now at that point.
While this was happening in the high end market the makres of self loading shotguns achieved total reliability, owner serviceability and almost instant stock regulation at decreasing prices.
In a way it is refreshing to see those "inflation hedging barbarians"as Gough Thomas called them, sweating it out trying to recoup investments in guns they accumulated just because they could. The same way they drove prices up, by creating a non essential demand, they are now driving them down.
