Had the Pleasure.....

[ReloaderFred]

Yesterday I went with a gunsmith friend to appraise a lot of guns for a recently widowed gun club member. There were many fine firearms in the collection, all very well cared for. One of the items in the collection was a Krieghoff Model 32 four barrel set, which had been upgraded to Crown Grade, in the original Krieghoff leather case. What beautiful workmanship and artwork! The set is unfired and the engraving was done by Angelo Bee, who passed away a few years ago. Those who know engraving are familiar with his work and know how exquisite it is.

For those who relish fine firearms, handling this gun was a delite, since there were only 48 of these sets made by Krieghoff. It is valued at between $20,000 and $25,000, and will be a fine addition for some collector. It's probably going to go to Rock Island Auction for the fall sale.

Another of the fine guns was a Beretta 687 EELL Diamond Pigeon Grade 12 gauge, unfired. This was from the Beretta Custom Shop and was valued at between $5,600 and $6,500. The engraving was very well done on this one, too.

It was a pleasure to see fine guns so well taken care of.

We went to another widow's last week and everything in that "collection" was covered in rust and pretty badly abused.

Fred

 

[oneounceload]

Both of those sound great, but also UNDER-priced. I would have thought both would be going for more, especially unfired and engraved by Angelo Bee.....Wish they were in MY price range

 

[ReloaderFred]

All we had to go by was the 30th Edition of the Blue Book of Gun Values, which I just received last Thursday. It's out of the price range of most of the local buyers, which is why they're going to the auction site.

Fred

 

[oneounceload]

Have you also talked to James D Julia in Maine? They handle high-end gun auction items as well.

www.jamesdjulia.com

Good luck with them!

 

[ArmedBear]

We went to another widow's last week and everything in that "collection" was covered in rust and pretty badly abused.

Isn't that the default state of much of the Oregon Coast?

It takes effort to keep the rust away.

 

[ReloaderFred]

We call it "Coastal Crud", and yes, it permeates everything if you don't stay on top of it.

In the case of the first widow, it was her son who had passed away. He evidently wanted stainless steel looking guns, so he removed all the bluing from several of his firearms at some point. They had things growing on them....... One was a pre Model 11 Remington, that would have been a nice addition to a collection if it weren't for the rust all over it after he removed the blue.

Fred

 

[Virginian]

I didn't know there were only 48 of those sets. My buddy has one of them.