Been thinking about downsizing my double gun collection for easier maintenance and upkeeping. It takes a lot of work to keep them all in good shape yet some have not been shot for +10 years.
My question, gentlemen, is do you feel that now is a good time to sell, or should I wait for inflation to slow down before I consider selling? I fear that if I sell now the dollars I get will be worth less soon, but on the other hand I don't want to wait only to find that the economic crunch has severely reduced the pool of potential buyers.
Any advice is highly appreciated.
I just sold a decent rebarreled Tolley SLE. Even priced cheaply IMO, it took a few months to move. On the flipside, it wasn't something super unique, rare, or in exceptional original condition.
https://www.doublegunshop.com/forum...;Words=tolley&Search=true#Post609073Wouldn't call it a hot market.
nitro, much depends on what you have and condition...
between august and january is the best time to sell doubleguns...
and inflation is not usualy temporary...
Good guns always sell, especially small bores. But getting close to Christmas and people are slowing their purchases
One of the local So Cal auction houses runs about six auctions a year and claims to be getting way over estimate for good guns that are pretty common. Of course they keep 25% of the sale, but they do move a lot of merchandise, averaging 500 lots per auction.
Many years ago I did a short stint in real estate. We always told the customers it was always a great time to buy, also a great time to sell. Never a bad time.
John Boyd
Barring some sort of ban threat (lead or ARs for example) guns bought at good prices tend to at least hold their value, rising with inflation.
You can not time the gun market any more than the stock market in my opinion. Select the ones you want to sell and either list them fairly priced and hope for a buyer to come along or send them to the auction house and sell them that way. In the past I have sent about 70 guns to Gunrunner in lots of 10-15 at a time. All low graded gun or field guns in good but not pristine conditions. All but half a dozen sold for what I thought was the right price. Of the six I thought four went way to cheap and two went way, way to high.
I have been thinking about sending another group of 20 up for sale in two lots and perhaps sending a few better guns to LS&B. The only reason I have not done this already is that there is nothing right now I want to buy so do not have much motivation to sell a few off. If I buy a decent cased pair of gun from the next Holt's Auction I might need to move a few guns. Right now there are three that appeal to me but nothing that I just must buy or my day is ruined type interest. I think with the economic unrest there might be a leveling off of mid graded guns or even a decrease in price. I see a lot of pairs which were in the 7-10,000 pound price range which are estimated in the 4-6,000 pound range. If the market is dropping off I might find a decent pair for my limited budget.
I have several things that I'd like to move on as well, but the "economic uncertainty" of the moment has me pondering how to proceed. I believe that once this next election cycle has concluded, we'll have a better sense of what we'll be faced with in the near term.
I have been selling some guns through penny auctions over on Gunbroker and have been pleasantly surprised. You know they are going to move and my experience has been that most have met or exceeded my expectations on price making up for any I felt should have sold for more. I have had a very strong year selling guns and demand does not yet seemed to have cooled. There will be plenty more SxS's hitting the market here due to the steel shot mandate in the UK and my feeling is that in the long run the price will continue to soften on mid-grade and below guns while really top notch stuff will hold its value or loose only a small amount. Best of luck on whatever you decide to do.
KY Jon
Not familiar with LS & B. What does the initials stand for, IE company name. You felt a better company to sell better grade guns.
Thank you
John Boyd
Quality Arms
It is Lock, Stock, and Barrel. They are pretty active on some auction sites. I bought a lever gun from them once and was well pleased with the sale. They have a pretty widespread and good reputation.
I'm not sure what one gaines from having LSB sell it vs doing it one's self.
Thanks so much for the reply
John Boyd
Sorry. Not trying to confuse things. LS&B is Lock, Stock and Barrel. I’ve bought quite a few guns from them. All were fair deals, well described and for decent, not cheap, prices. I’ve bought a couple Model 42’s from them including a high Grade and a Pigeon grade and would trust their evaluation which is better than I can say for more than a few dealers.
LS&B sells a lot more mid to higher grade guns than Gunrunner and I think they have more buyers watching their stuff. If you have a favorite seller on GunBroker you can easily follow their auctions for items you like. Plus they offer layaway for 60 days which I think helps buyers on mid priced guns. A buyer can easily pay for a $250-500 gun but might need a bit of time on a $5,000 gun. Funny thing is the $50,000 buyer can pay easily but too often think $50K is our $500 and to them it is I guess. Gunrunner has more $250-1,000 guns but fewer guns worth much more. LS&B has many more $1,000 plus guns with buyers for them. That the market my “better” grade guns are looking for.
If I list and sell I don’t get LS&B followers. I’m not a dealer with a decade long history so nobody knows me. I’ll pay the vig to let others market, ship and deliver my guns as long as I come out equall or better. I might get $1,000 for a gun where they might get enough extra buyer bids based on repeat buyers trusting the item as described. Auctions are always a gamble for the seller too but the more bidders the less chance your gun does not bring a fair price.