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Collectble value
dodge69
Member Posts: 954 ✭✭
I was reading an article in Gun Digest that seemed to imply a professionally rebuilt gun did not really effect the collectable value. It seems to me if a gun is rebuilt no matter who rebuilt it the collectable value would be gone. It could still be a high value gun but not a gun I would compare to one that had not been messed with. Would I be correct?
Comments
Depends on what the gun was like when you started, what was done to it and who did it. If (for example) the gun were a splintered mess of rusty pieces, then I think a professional rebuild potentially could add value.
In certain individual cases, really good overhauls by a small number of "name" gunsmiths might improve overall value. EG, a good RE-restoration done to correct a previous BAD restoration could potentially improve a guns value. Restoring incomplete guns into some facsimile of original condition by adding period-authentic (or even replica) missing parts probably won't HURT collectors value, and might help.
But as a general rule, I think you're correct.
Gun collectors tend to prize "original condition" more than anything else so in the overwhelming majority of cases, restorations or rebuilds don't improve a guns value. In most cases, refinishes, woodwork, just reduce value.
This doesn't necessarily mean you should "never" refinish an old gun. Not every piece that has "some" collectors value has much. Its certainly possible for a given piece to have more sentimental value to YOU than a small amount of extra value to outside collectors.
Also, it doesn't mean that ANYTHING done to a collectors gun is instantly going to destroy ALL collectors value. Again, that depends on what's being done and to what. EG, an 1862 Winchester rifle is going to have SOME collectors value no matter WHAT is done to it. . .but, as above, its pretty easy to reduce value to collectors.
The finished product is for all intents, brand new.
I believe less than one hundred of this variation were produced.
Many weapons, even Winchesters, have sights replaced/added, wood renewed or replaced. When done by a craftsman, who would know and who would care?
An honest to God restoration cannot but raise the value of a rare firearm that would otherwise be unobtainable.
This guy says there is a sweet spot at which the resale value of the restored gun is greater than the price of the worn gun plus the cost of restoration. He is no doubt promoting his business and that sweet spot is probably very narrow.
Another restorer described how he indelibly marked his work so that it could not be presented as a well preserved original. I think all of them should do that.
Another restorer described how he indelibly marked his work so that it could not be presented as a well preserved original. I think all of them should do that.
+100 I once talked to probably the biggest name in restoration and asked if he did that. He said he did not. When I persisted with "Why not?" He said his customers don't want him to. Not hard to guess why.
I was once told by a collector that if I did not know enough to tell restoration from original, that I pretty much deserved to be cheated.
Years ago, a Del Grego restored Parker was a perfectly legitimate item, worth a good deal of money even though not as much as a pristine shotgun. I thought it would catch on, as with cars and furniture, but there is still the aristocracy of collecting who prefer their "5% of original finish in protected locations."