Went to a Gun Auction

[SOLANCO]

I will not go to an auction that does not let you preview the items before the sale. Preferably the day before. Thus if I attend the sale I know what I want and what I am willing to spend.

Buying at auctions requires rigid self discipline.

 

[bajabuc]

Seems like you have a box of parts and no complete guns. Without stocks, hard to call them complete guns… all a matter of perspective I guess.

I have wood...just a lot of work for T/C parts

 

[bajabuc]

Auctions are strange at times, depending on the clientele. I myself have a value in my head that I refuse to go over.
That being said, I have at one time paid too much, but that sob wasn’t taking it from me.

I used to collect apple crates...wood ones. She kept upping the bid a dollar at a time nice crate...full of old paperbacks...finally I said "And twenty" she quit. the paperbacks were all louis l'amour westerns...autographed first print...including his Hopalong Cassidy's and his sea stories

 

[RockingKJ]

Auctions for me have gone either way. Some sales my only buy was lunch. Others sit all day maybe get a few things at a bargain price. On rare occasions the sale you remember for years for the good buys and happy you bought what you did. wishing you had deeper pockets to have scored more. Went to an auction last year advertised 300 knives ( turned out to be over 3000), horse equipment (ever see a dozen 8’ tables loaded with antique bits and spurs?) a bunch of guns mostly rusty projects but went cheap. It was a sale with my kinda stuff and I was able get
a good pile of goodies. Something to think about at the sales while munching on the only buy of the day.

 

[Gordoncourtney]

Went to a gun auction on Sunday last. I was trying to score a Japanese musket, and they had a few additional repro flintlock rifles and pistols, as well as some original BP guns, along with a plethora of modern stuff.

Now there's sales tax and if you use plastic instead of cash, there's a charge for that too.

So the Jap Bess was in good condition, not shot much judging from the frizzen. Not rusty, and only had a 3-digit serial number, so probably late 1970's or early 1980's. The guys competing with me for the musket I'd watched all morning, and they were buying guns for resale. Now true I was too, but I was trying to get it at a good price to sell it at cost to another reenactor, as the musket is one of the biggest dollar items.

I stopped bidding at $800, because with the sales tax and card fee, I was looking at $885, for a used Jap Bess.

The bidding stopped at $975, but with the tax and fee since the winner was paying with a card, the cost was $1075.00

$1075 for a used Jap Bess, which is out of production, not under any warranty, and for which no spare parts are made..., so the guy has to sell it for what, $1175 - $1275? I know retail prices for a Pedersoli are $1400 but I'd bet that sits in whatever shop or storage area for a long while as his ad on Gunbroker or some other site gets 0 bids day after day. Pedersoli's often go on sale for $1275.00 so why not wait until you can buy a still in production musket with available spare parts?

LD

The auctioneers make the big money Bonhams London I had been looking for a double 450/400 rifle to celebrate my 70 th birthday surviving cancer Three other bidders but the hammer went down to me at £4000. The invoice price with buyers premium was £5,200 plus £140 for paying on my card. How much did the seller get just £3600. !!! I have since bought other guns at Holts auction uk . Such is life Ps. 80% of bidders are dealers so they won’t bid top prices. But buyers then pay more. , it depends if you really want it !! But it’s far cheaper to buy at auction than from a dealer . But no guarantee on what you get , so its bidders beware. !!!!!!

I bid £1600 on the .36 as new, 1885 muzzle loading double rifle . I was excited and the auctioneer was bidding me up against imaginary bids, that’s his job. It stopped at £1600. The invoice was £2140.

Moral of story don’t get excited and don’t be too fast to bid . Later research indicated the ML was made by the the midland gun company around 1924. “ the long range rifle company “ Birmingham. Alas no records as WW2 their premises bombed to bits

Further research indicated the 450 -400 was sold by by Lyon and Lyon but he had it made by Westely Richards England, what a bonus !!!

Auction great but beware in 1973 I bought an antique blunderbuss at auction. Turns out it was a made in India imitation wall hanger , stupid me. But a good lesson

I wish you all well from London. Cold heavy rain today

 

[cebusey]

Yep, just depends on the auction and the clientele. I've seen some really nice original and contemporary longrifles sell really cheap and some sell for WAY more than they were worth. I was bidding recently on an online auction that happened to be fairly local (precluding me from having to pay shipping on top of tax and buyer's premium) and I was REALLY interested in several hundred really nice sporting classic books, leather bound, some first editions, etc. etc.. When the bidding got real, all of those books ended up selling for more than I was willing to pay, but when I realized that I wasn't getting any books and knew that I had a few bucks to bid with, I bid on two original oil paintings. One was a 1958 repro of a commercial calendar painting of a boy with a slingshot and a few game birds tossed over his shoulder walking past two "sports" with fancy side by side shotguns, pointing dogs and no game. It's not worth much, but it's a great painting and it was in a wormy Chestnut frame that was worth more than the $35 that I paid for it. I ended up also buying the original calendar off of the big auction site and paid more for it than I did for the painting. I also purchased a very large original oil painting in frame of a cow and calf moose in Yellowstone Park that was done by a fairly famous wildlife artist and gave $80 for it. Retail would probably be around 5K-6K for that painting from the artist or an art gallery. As others have pointed out, you simply have to know what something's worth before bidding and set your price and stick to it. I find that most of the time anything very collectable sells for more than it's worth at the average auction, but there are bargains, particularly if it's an auction that's mostly filled with jewelry, furniture or household items and they happen to have one "old muzzleloader", so the collectors don't find it.

I went to a rural auction and bought an 18th century bronze 3pd cannon barrel for $50 bucks. In the same lot was a wooden bucket in relic condition that the bidders went wild for and it went for $300. No interest in the cannon barrel which was in excellent shape. Go figure.

 

[stephenprops1]

Went to a gun auction on Sunday last. I was trying to score a Japanese musket, and they had a few additional repro flintlock rifles and pistols, as well as some original BP guns, along with a plethora of modern stuff.

Now there's sales tax and if you use plastic instead of cash, there's a charge for that too.

So the Jap Bess was in good condition, not shot much judging from the frizzen. Not rusty, and only had a 3-digit serial number, so probably late 1970's or early 1980's. The guys competing with me for the musket I'd watched all morning, and they were buying guns for resale. Now true I was too, but I was trying to get it at a good price to sell it at cost to another reenactor, as the musket is one of the biggest dollar items.

I stopped bidding at $800, because with the sales tax and card fee, I was looking at $885, for a used Jap Bess.

The bidding stopped at $975, but with the tax and fee since the winner was paying with a card, the cost was $1075.00

$1075 for a used Jap Bess, which is out of production, not under any warranty, and for which no spare parts are made..., so the guy has to sell it for what, $1175 - $1275? I know retail prices for a Pedersoli are $1400 but I'd bet that sits in whatever shop or storage area for a long while as his ad on Gunbroker or some other site gets 0 bids day after day. Pedersoli's often go on sale for $1275.00 so why not wait until you can buy a still in production musket with available spare parts?

LD

My dad always said that some people have more money than brains. --- He had the money to spend. From what you have posted you have experience. Now he doesn't have the money and soon he will have experience too.