SENDING MY COLLECTION TO AUCTION

[Opening Day]

Originally Posted by George Lander

Sadly for me the appraisals with James D. Julia did not go well at all. It was hard for me to believe the numbers that they put on my guns. They would not leave me a copy of their estimates but I overheard some of the numbers they were throwing out. Either the doublegun market is in the loo or what is happening? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Best Regards, George

George, did they give you a value on each individual gun or a lump sum? I'm not sure I understand this situation, are you saying they wouldn't give you a copy of what value they placed on the guns? That's strange.

[C grade]

George
My recent experience , conversations with several dealers, and auction house results has shown me that the SxS market is definitely in the loo and someone pulled the handle. This is especially true of 12ga and even true of small ga Parkers. This too will pass but maybe not in our lifetime. In the high grade , high condition market 2 of maybe 5-6 buyers have backed away.
Best of luck
David

[edgarspencer]

George, I'm sorry I've come to this thread late, but I am truly sorry for your loss of your daughter. I simply do not know how empty one must feel loosing a child. The holidays are the toughest time, worse if you don't know the true meaning of Christmas.
I have several friends who work for WHOI, and The Nat'l Marine Fisheries Lab in Kingston RI. I will let my good friend Jack know, as he knew anybody and everybody.
I am at the age where I too, should be thinking of thinning my collection down, but the spirit keeps moving me for "just one more".

[George Lander]

Originally Posted by Eric Eis

George, did they give you a value on each individual gun or a lump sum? I'm not sure I understand this situation, are you saying they wouldn't give you a copy of what value they placed on the guns? That's strange.

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

[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

[Kevin McCormack]

Sounds like an analogous situation to the 1994 cult film, Reality Bites The film tells the story of an aspiring videographer working on a documentary called "Reality Bites" about the disenfranchised lives of her friends and roommates, a bunch of 30-somethings. Their challenges exemplify some of the career and lifestyle choices faced by Generation X.

Let me fast-forward to "Generation X plus 40 years":
Like George, some recent experiences, not all good, have involved my participation in the appraisal and attempted sale of what I perceived to be some very valuable guns in varying degrees of "high" condition and originality. Unfortunately, my perceptions were singular, based on values and conditions of what were considered very desirable firearms "back in the day". I then underwent (as a requirement of sale) two separate appraisals, 9 months apart. The results and impact are very much what like George describes; their value(s) had except in a very few cases diminished considerably, and in fact the appraisers in both cases cited "moderate to highly inflated estimates of condition and value" (bearing in mind that none of these guns had been appraised in over 30+ years).

It is indeed a bitter pill to swallow sometimes, but as the author of the fabulous book, "Objects of Desire", a seminal guide to the vagaries and intricacies of the antique trade, puts it, "If you really want to know what it's worth, send it to auction!" Caveat Consignor.

[Big D]

I agree with David. Young folks, even if they are shooters, are not interested in SxS guns. My two grandsons, both Master Class sporting clays shooters, look at my Parkers amd M21's and Fox as curiosities. Go to a gun show. The only two things which have increased at them is beef jerky sales and walkers/canes. Not what a growing (or even stable) market looks like. Enjoy your SxS's but recognize that as a class, they are not going to be increasing in value

[John Allen]

I agree that the market has changed dramatically.However,what I am seeing in my appraisal business is that really mint collector class guns are bringing more than ever. What has changed is the mid level condition guns that people used to buy to hunt with has gone.Those were the guns that held the market up.Mr.Dallas is correct that young shooters now shoot over unders or semi autos.The double gun market is turning into a pure collector market.This is not only true for doubles,but all "claasic" guns.Winchesters,Colts,etc. are all seeing the same change.

[B. Dudley]

Auction houses are usually all about optomism and selling you on their ability to get the most money for your item. Maybe they honestly felt that their apprasal was what the guns were worth. ???