A friend of mine is liquidating his late father's collection. I picked out a few pieces but the guy is researching some prices. He'll get back to me when he's ready. He seems willing to set reasonable prices and I certainly am not looking to low-ball him. A couple of the pieces that caught my eye are a bit tricky for me to estimate a value. The first is a Colt New Service in .45 Colt. I know a lot of the New Services were chambered in .455 Eley and some of those were later re-chambered in .45 but I have no evidence that it is the case with this example. It is a beautiful gun but it is a custom one off piece. The father re-barreled the gun with a VERY thick 4" bull barrel. The gun, I believe, has also been re-blued to a Python-like lustrous blue. I could be wrong but I think the cylinder release latch may have been replaced also. The earlier type of square latch has been replaced with a Python type. I was told that later commercial models had the Python type latch so maybe it's correct. I don't have the serial number so I don't know what year it was made. But the father was a meticulous record keeper. There are notes on just about every detail of every gun he has. It's really a very handsome piece. He also has an Official Police in .38 with a similar treatment. Here's where it gets tricky. The father who was well known at the Colt and several other factories had the work, at least the re-barreling, done at the Colt Factory. The story is that the Colt people used his custom work as a prototype for some production models. Is it a true prototype? Does the notion that the gun may have lead to similar production models add to the value? Both are in beautiful condition cosmetically. The guns do not have their original boxes, papers or tools. What would the value of these guns be?
Value of a 1-off guns
- Thread starter Colt Smith
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Problem with one-of guns...
Is that, unless you can document its factory condition, its just another customized gun with ruined collectors value and a narrow market. :/
Is that, unless you can document its factory condition, its just another customized gun with ruined collectors value and a narrow market. :/
bannockburn
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Colt Smith
I believe there is a member here who purchased a number of Colt prototypes and factory one-offs when Colt had a big auction a year or two ago. I think his name is Jeff and his THR name is GUNKWAZY. You might try contacting him to see if he could help you with any additional information on the guns and their value.
I believe there is a member here who purchased a number of Colt prototypes and factory one-offs when Colt had a big auction a year or two ago. I think his name is Jeff and his THR name is GUNKWAZY. You might try contacting him to see if he could help you with any additional information on the guns and their value.
Brian Williams
Moderator Emeritus
I have a one off S&W , I had Mark Hartshorn put a S&W 64 pencil barrel on a 3" S&W 65, I lowered the value by about $50 with about $200 of work.
Over the years I've built (had built) a number of custom revolvers. Things like non-factory barrel lengths and round but configurations not offered by the manufacturer. When I sold or traded them I generally didn't get more than the cost/value of the original gun before modification. I accepted that as I got years of use out of them in a configuration they were never offered. Just the way it is.
Dave
Dave
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