SENDING MY COLLECTION TO AUCTION

[Opening Day]

Originally Posted by George Lander

They did not do either. They only told me what they would advance which was about 20% of what I needed. I overheard some of their estimates. $500-$700 for a Parker that I had valued at $3,000. I asked for a copy of their estimates but was refused.

Best Regards, George

George, I think you did the right thing to walk away. If they were unwilling to even give you a written estimate on each gun then there is something wrong with that, if nothing else so you would know which guns had value and which didn't. Maybe to ones that didn't have as much value you may have wanted to give to family or a friend and send the others to auction.

[George Lander]

Originally Posted by Eric Eis

George, I think you did the right thing to walk away. If they were unwilling to even give you a written estimate on each gun then there is something wrong with that, if nothing else so you would know which guns had value and which didn't. Maybe to ones that didn't have as much value you may have wanted to give to family or a friend and send the others to auction.

Eric: I was prepared to take less on some guns, the ordinary ones, hoping for a better result on the rarer ones and an overall average that I could live with. That, unfortunately, was not forthcoming as I did not know what their estimates were or how they were arriving at them. It seemed to me that the person doing the evaluating was only identifying the guns make, gauge, model, ejectors or extractors. Nothing about condition, rarity, maker, history, etc. Each evaluation took @ one minute and then his estimate. Not very professional at all in my view. For instance, I have a Parker Bros. DHE 20 gauge that I purchased from Holt's in England several years ago. It has London proofs on the barrel flats. It is in very fine original condition with an initial plate bearing the name "S.D. McGraw" and the number "2" The Parker letter gives it's manufacture date in 1925 but has no detailed information as to who ordered it or where the factory shipped it to. I was hoping that a competent auction house would be willing to do some further research on it and find out who it was made for (there was a major league baseball manager with the name McGraw around that time) I overheard their estimate of around $2,500. I thought that they were looking at the wrong gun. I guess that I must find a more competent outlet to sell my collection.

Best Regards, George

[edgarspencer]

George, Tug McGraw's Christian name was Frank. I was thinking it might have been McGraw-Hill Publishing, but found that S.D. McGraw was a Partner in the Securities firm of Allen, McGraw & Co. who were listed brokers on the Chicago Stock exchange. The dates match up with the period of the gun.
A DHE 20 would first need to be run over, twice, by a 20 car train before it was worth $2500. Julia's has sold many 20ga. DHE guns in the past couple years, between $8k range to over $17,000. Maybe I should sell all of mine and buy a pontoon boat.

[Opening Day]

Originally Posted by edgarspencer

George, Tug McGraw's Christian name was Frank. I was thinking it might have been McGraw-Hill Publishing, but found that S.D. McGraw was a Partner in the Securities firm of Allen, McGraw & Co. who were listed brokers on the Chicago Stock exchange. The dates match up with the period of the gun.
A DHE 20 would first need to be run over, twice, by a 20 car train before it was worth $2500. Julia's has sold many 20ga. DHE guns in the past couple years, between $8k range to over $17,000. Maybe I should sell all of mine and buy a pontoon boat.

I totally agree Edgar...............

[Bill Murphy]

Edgar, the figures you were asking about would be the charges for getting the collection (or individual guns) to the auction house. I am waiting for someone to link the thread about one of our member's experience in getting his guns back after not being sold. I won't mention his name.

[Chris T.]

I'm familiar with George's DHE, I bid on that gun too. It's a gorgeous DHE, 30", straight stock with a long LOP and checkered butt. It's a cool job for sure, I would guess it'll bring a premium at the right auction.