I'm curious about us older collectors . Do you think value will go up or is it going to be a buyers market ? Please NO political views just honest thoughts , is anyone else thinking increasing there insurance or decreasing . Gunshows are usually high but the ones selling are a good indicator of current values . IM SO CONFUSED .
After spending the better part of the week taking care of business at SHOT Show, I decided to take a couple of days to see the Antique Arms Show, Intl. at the Westgate Hotel in LV. Just to be clear, this is also referred to as a 'collectors' show so I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was. What a jolting experience when compared to SHOT Show! Yes, SHOT Show is a Trade Show, so I'm not trying to draw any comparisons between the two but there was a world of difference.
The Antique Arms Show was a true gun show with long lines of tables running for what seemed to be mile after mile in the big hall. My goal in attending was to relax and experience some of the visual and historically significant firearms from the past. Talking to some of the exhibitors was a magnificent lesson in the historical significance of some of the firearms displayed. This alone was well worth the small price of admission. The attendees, by all appearances, were, as a whole, significantly older than what I would have suspected. In fact, there were very few folks in their 40's and 50's present even as buyers let alone sellers. So I have to agree that the collectors and the buyers of 'collectible firearms' are getting older without much of an infusion from the younger folks. I was not alone in this observation either. Many of the sellers and buyers shared meals together in order to discuss the state of the industry for collectibles.
The jolting part though was the prices! Evidently, the concept of selling 'collectible' firearms has come to be represented by huge increases in prices over selling in other venues. Models such as the average Savage M99 takedowns in .300 Savage were running $2,000 to $3400.00 depending on the sellers of course, corporate or individual. On the other end though, Interarms M98 Mausers had asking prices of $900.00 for the action and standard trigger, and I saw one Commercial FN action with an asking price of $1,000.00 albeit in very nice shape. I expect prices for a Purdey or Holland & Holland to be excessive but not for the mundane examples. As you might expect, many of the sellers left without making a dime because of this. Some attempted to make some minor corrections around 10:00 AM on Sunday but as you might expect, it was too little, too late. In essence and in general, throughout a cross-section of the show, prices appeared to be 3 times higher than what I have seen them in other circumstances. Even the older Lyman, Redfield and Unertl target scopes were off the wall expensive.
Granted, there was little there which would have created much interest with our modern day accuracy members but the historical significance was immeasurable. The best part though was that there was nothing except firearms and weapons, no jerky or any other irrelevant products.
Regards.
