doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Purdey(s) find of the year?

I don't have any issues with my morality when I sell a gun---I lose on every one I sell. Maybe that's why I can't sleep.

These things happen.

A friend of mine went to a garage sale on Australia and bougt a load of fishing tackli in tackle boxes.

One of them had a paper bag full of uncut gemstones the deceased had hidden there.

He got the stones cut, made a good deal of money.

On the other hand a 'friend' of the family came to see my mother's books when she was clearing out my dad's study to make space. He was a book dealer. Told her nothing was of any value but he'd give her �25 for a few he quite liked.

Took and original, signed German copy of Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler. It turned up in auction a couple of months later with a low estimate of �125,000. Some friend.

G, the story doesn't give enough background to determine if you were in a fit state of mind or if your nephews tricked you when you were vulnerable. What if I wrote, my son knew that his 'gift' was originally stolen. The piece I quoted was akin to, my two hundred dollar pump gun goes down on a big hunt and the local bubba wants seven hundred to fix it and salvage my big dollar trip.

In my story, I set the price of the gift, just as is the original story. The seller set the terms and she was under no moral or legal obligation to seek out an appraiser. What if the seller knew getting full value meant months of waiting on just the right buyer, but she needed it gone today because of her desires. Why might she give away boxes of tattered clothes that have real sentimental value with no scrutiny, but someone rocking back on their chair spots a crime if the gun has more value.

A gift is a completely different issue. The old rich lady was not endeavoring to give anyone a gift as far as I can tell.

A $19 Chia pet for 10 cents is quite different....first, the dollar amount is insignificant to even a person living at poverty levels. Second, it is reasonable in an open market situation that the person selling a secondhand Chia pet might only get 10 cents. Not so for a $1000 Purdey.

High and mighty? No, just half-assed honest. In real life? I'll give you an example - I bought a load of used but good 426 Hemi parts in 1997 from a widow in Chicago. She did not know what they were worth and asked me for my opinion. My opinion, based on the market which I was well aware of, was $5000. I told her so. Sh was overjoyed and told me she would be glad to get $4000 to give me a break for being honest. We wound up splitting the difference and she had $4500 in her hand. There is no doubt I could have lied and told her $1000 and she would have taken it. I knew that then and I know it now.

I have a view of life....someday, the guy who goes through life looking to take every advantage he can - the opportunist - will be sitting on a doctor's table, far too young to have stomach cancer. He'll be listening in a most perplexed manner as the doctor tells him he has stomach cancer but good. What goes around comes around.

Greg, the difference between your personal scenario with the widow and the hemi parts and the Purdey's, in my mind, is you knew what you were looking at AND WERE ASKED.

There is a big difference between BS'ing when asked and paying the asking price for something when presumably, according to the story, many have already looked at and passed on the items.

That's not manipulative, it's not lying, it's not stealing and it's not trying to take every advantage one can. Suggesting others on this board aren't honest when comparing different scenarios isn't honest.

I do not know, but for sure my Country would be a much better place to live if more people beheve like GregSY.

Best,

I get a lot of folks asking me about their Lefever shotguns. The 2 most frequent questions are how old is it and how much is it worth.
For those of you who know Lefevers there is no firm answer to meither question. The dates found on the internet including the LACA site are extrapolations and at least 1/3 of the guns were made out of sequence.
Everybody knows the variability in gun values, especially based on descriptions and photos rather than hands on examination.
However, I try to give as close of an approximation as I can based on the information provided. Sometimes I would be interested in the gun, more frequently not because the high grade guns don't come by very frequently. I will not low ball them even if I or somebody I know is interested because they are asking me for information based on my reputation.

On the other hand, if a gun is offered with a predetermined price tag, whether through a dealer, a pawn shop, or a yard sale or at auction and my opinion is not requested I feel no obligation to "educate" the seller who has placed a price on it.

I don't know if everybody would see the difference between the above scenerios. A dilemma happens if somebody presents a gun for a price and asks "is that a fair price?". To me that depends on whether they are asking me in my capacity with the Lefever Collectors or if they don't know me from Adam, as if I just walk into a pawn shop or a yard sale off the street. In that case I have to let my conscience by my guide. If its a business like a pawn shop I feel it is their obligation to know the value. If it were a widow's yard sale I would probably feel differently.

I wish I could find me an old widow woman to screw out of a Purdey.

In my neck of the woods local gun shops only tend to deal in modern sporting firearms and have little knowledge or dealings of older military arms or quality doubles.
In fact they generally ring me to come and give them some idea of value.
I always give my honest opinion,irrespective of whether or not I am interested in it.
That said there is a big difference between �what's your opinion on this guns value� and �the seller wants $200 for it,are you interested�

As it happens I know a chap who bought a fine English gun from a dealer that had no idea what it was worth.
To him it was just another �old gun�,albeit quite a nice looking one.
It was later resold for many times the purchase price.
How many would feel sorry for the dealer?

Dr Bob, very well expressed. For me, the issue is was I asked. If asked I'll give anyone, regardless of their circumstances, the best, most accurate answer I can.