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Gun appraisal course?
CanuckCountryboy
Member Posts: 2 ✭✭
I want to take a 'GUN APPRAISAL COURSE' to become a gun appraiser. I can't seem to find a place where a person take this course. Can anyone tell me where I might be able to find a course like this to take?
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Comments
I want to take a 'GUN APPRAISAL COURSE' to become a gun appraiser. I can't seem to find a place where a person take this course. Can anyone tell me where I might be able to find a course like this to take?
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I've never heard of such a course. What you are probably looking to become is a licensed/certified appraiser. From that point there are likely speciality areas, such as cars, antique jewelry, etc., etc.
You should find some type of national appraisers association and proceed from there.
John
There is really scheduled course that cn teach this level of experience. However, there are, I'm sure, courses that do teach appraisal on a broader level. I would think that to specialize in any area like cars, antique furniture, guns, sporting equipment, or anything that can be collected, would require years of experience in those area's.
Best
I am not sure that is true. I have seen some appraisers that appear to me to have exactly that level of trining and experience.
The one of stuff will take years... however, the NRA has guidelines on what exactly "95%" means, and a recent blue book AND looking at completed GB auctions sorted by number of bids will give you a real world price for more common items...
Taking what you have learned about appraisal in general, you are prepared to learn about guns and what is important to know about evaluating them. It includes all the things Bert H and those above have said above plus a few others.
With all that, you will learn that there is still no way to REALLY know what the condition of a bore or finish or stock it by reading what people write. Many of us on the forum who have 'been there, done that' give our best description and still answer the questions by people who don't quite know what we mean. Same thing, we have to ask questions to try to understand the other person's description.
If you know the person you are dealing with, little of all that matters.
I think what is not being said is that "appraisal" depends on the goal of an appraiser:[:p]
Appraising for his own business.
Appraising for a related business
Appraising for a total stranger
Let's take the first example: When I worked as a mechanic for a large car dealership, I got to see some training programs that were geared toward used cars. Used car dealers were instructed to go around a car that was brought in for sale, while its owner was standing right there. The "appraiser" carried a clipboard, and would visibly show negative qualities of the car in question (scratches, dents, etc.), and "note" them on the clipboard during the walkaround. This would tell the customer that his car was worth much less than he thought it was worth. The appraiser would then work up a price to pay the seller, which was always going to be lowball, anyway. During this entire process, the appraiser is supposed to be thinking about how he can, inexpensively, "improve" (wash, wax, detail, simple repair) the car for quick sale, at a large proffit. Honesty was always stressed in these programs, but proffit was certainly the focus.
I would say that my second example is closely related to the first.
I believe that my third example would be the one where the appraiser has little interest in resale proffit, but where he would need to know the most about originality of what he is appraising.
In all of what I have written, here, I believe that honesty is the key.
Anyway, the way you learn how to appraise guns is by experience.
There are MANY different types of guns in the world, no one person can possibly know all there is to know about all of them, and their value isn't always obvious.
In general, to become a good judge of prices (eg an appraiser) I'd say you have to look at a LOT of guns VERY carefully (we're talking thousands) to get good and familiar with types of guns, types of finish, wear characteristics, what refinishes look like, and what types of forgeries look like. You have to learn about guns, including historical info, manufacturing, etc. Lastly to judge the market and value, you have to be involved in actual gun sales, if not by doing so personally, at least by seeing pricing and trends in pricing.
So far as I know, there is no such thing as a formal gun appraisal school. The closest thing to that might be working in a busy gunstore for a few years, or at a professional gun auction house.
While there is definitely merit to learning some of this by formal apprenticeship (eg learning from the people who know from training and experience) ultimately, there is no substitute for experience.