Surprising Response on Gunbroker
 

I usually go through the LB&S listings on Gunbroker every other Sunday and watchlist some of the more interesting C&R and Antique guns which show up.
Several generally nice to OK Parkers this week, but a pretty nnice GHE 20 gauge was there. Short barrels, straight stock, two ivory beads on a concave tapered rib, good dimensions, decent wood, checkered butt with no plate. Only negative was a little wear on the stock/checkering and I personally didn't think the wood fit was up to the normal Parker standards. Loose in places, proud in some and low in some. Has a nice looking case.

What surprised me was the bidding response. Generally unless it is a very inexpensive gun, the real money stays out of the game until most of the two weeks is gone. In this case,even though the gun doesn't appear in the serialization book and no Letter was presented in the listing, a small number of bidders drove the price up to nearly $4000 in one day with essentially 2 weeks left in the auction. Seems like an abnormal reaction?

Thats about half of what a nice GHE 20 would bring. But the gun in question has been re-stocked and new colors. It would be a fine shooter/hunter though!

There was a very very nice GHE Remington gun 20 gauge 28” that the auction ended Sunday . It started at $9999.99 , gun was close at a shop I know so I went and looked at it . Very nice except for a later gold initial inlay in the front of the trigger guard . Anyway Gun recieved no bids .

Those “except for”s are killers.

I was most amazed by the speed with which the bidding progressed with no real way to document any of the details. You seldom see any significant bidding until the end of an auction (it's auction rule number one, don't drive yourself up). A few weeks ago, there was a composed pair of 1920's H&H Badmintons (well documented by H&H) that stayed in the 1000 to 2000 range almost the entire auction and then zoomed into the teens the last half day or so. I couldn't fathom what would drive five or six bidders to drive that Parker to 2/3 of its value in less than a day. It seems like a case of Parker fever broke out.

I will sometimes place a minimum first bid just to hold the gun, not expecting to get it at that price. Anything other than that, until the last 15 minutes, is a waste of time and energy. Some people never learn.

Ive been playing GB auctions both ways for years . If you wanna "try" and sneak a bid in do it with 20 minutes to go and not less then 15 minutes . If you do it at less than 15 minutes all it does is reset for another 15 minutes .

I've done that before also. If someone bids over me I wait until the 15 minutes is almost up, and keep doing this until the other bidder gives up. Of course I have a limit in mind that I won't bid higher than, but I have outlasted a few.
I think one reason people place bids early on is to get the bottom feeders to drop out early so they won't get caught up in the auction frenzy at the end and just drive the price even higher.

If it's a gun that I'd like to have but I'm not all that worked up over I may bid the highest amount I'm comfortable with, and leave it at that. That way I don't have to be "there" when the gavel is about to drop, to sneak in another bid. Downside is you may leave some money laying on the table. Upside is you don't have to raise bids over and over.

I've won a few nice guns that way, and actually never felt like I overpaid for any of them, because I was careful what I figured my top dollar to be. I'm a big fan of silent auctions. They go a long way towards eliminating emotion from the bidding, IMO.

As Reggie said earlier this one has been completely refinished and the numbers do not match. Frame and trigger tang are 152790 while the SFE is 153790. Interesting also is the fact that the barrel loop has a #2 on it that would seemingly indicate it was part of a 2 barrel set yet the incorrectly numbered SFE lacks the number we typically see with 2 barrel sets indicating which barrel set it goes with. I know, that was not the subject matter of the thread but....

I usually wait until the last hour, bid what I'm willing to pay, and see what happens. Sometimes you may over pay by a couple hundred bucks but you set a limit for your self and live with it.

I don't like the 15-munite rule, but it serves a purpose. A few years ago I was very interested in an early 28 ga 1100. I set a limit and watched. There were at least two bidders who were determined and the auction dragged on for another 2-hours after it was supposed to close. When the hammer fell the price was just under $2k.

I did this on a little Spanish 16 that ended on Christmas Eve or New Years Eve (I forget). I placed my $750 bid and forgot all about it. I won it (surprise) then listed it and got almost double my money, starting my bid at like a buck, no reserve. Usually I specialize in losing money so this was an outlier.

I know myself and rarely bid live because I have little self restraint in a competitive bidding situation. :eek: I leave a absentee bid at my best number and hope for the best. If the gun or vintage decoy is a must have (rarely)I will telephone bid and keep going until I'm successful. :cool:

I usually have two categories of what I bid on:

1. At that price I will take it
2. I really want it and I am going to bid to win

Trying to do a lot less of the first one these days.

In the second category, I place a decent bid and then often slowly increase it during the week/duration of the auction as I realize I really want it...

That is pretty much my approach. The statement you make which is not correct is that you may leave money on the table. If you make a bid that is your maximum, you always pay only what the number 2 bidder is willing to pay plus the minimum bid increment. You are only commited to the max amount if it is necessary to overbid other bidders. The techniquw actually minimizes the amount you have to pay. I usually place my bid 30 minutes or so before the end so that I don't cause a lot of early bidding.

A Parker 20 ga VHE is a desirable gun. Due to the Parker Mystique many will overlook the warts and inconsistencies and hold in their minds the picture of themselves owning such a prize. Chances are if their buddies even know what a Parker is they won’t know a good one from a bad. Or even care - because it’s a Parker! I try to avoid auctions unless there is a buy it now option. My self restraint is too easily overcome.