As I mentioned, the only gun I bought was a Beretta. It is the fourth sidelock O/U by them I have purchased. It was listed as and "early" one, which is relative. The oldest one I have I purchased from a member here and was proofed in 1932.
I think these are sleepers in the collecting community. The ones 60 years old and older are one of the best game guns ever made, if you carefully watch the barrel weights. Most of them I have are around 6-11 in weight and one of the most dynamic guns you ever picked up. When new ones over the last 20 years have sold for $50-100K, it seems to make a lot of sense to buy a nice older one for $3-6K. Being released at the start of the Hitler regime put a damper on the first 20 years of it's history but the gun was a major influence on the European hunting and target market for decades and was never sold in great numbers.
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