I have quite a few very expensive firearms ... especially a couple of custom packages that are seriously overpriced and ridiculously too expensive imho but at my age and stage I could afford them amd wanted them and spent too much money custom building them .... they're vanity firearms.
And then there are my truly valuable firearms .... I have a few of those too, family hand me downs and/or one rare piece that I bought years ago that suddenly became very valuable to my surprise.
One is my Grandfather's 1934 Colt 1911C that he bought in Chicago brand new (I still have the receipt of the purchase) and carried in WWII.
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The other is a simple Marlin ... more precisely it is a Marlin Express in 338 MX. What makes it valuable, and what has made so many people offer me so much money for it once they found out I had it is this ....
It is doubtful the 338 MX will ever be made again. This one is JM stamped. This one has a very special serial number (because it had been held for someone in the company for some time and was accidently released to me) ... and this was the last Marlin to be released from the old factory in Connecticut before the doors were closed ... so they made it special. Finest furniture they had. I have the provenance letter from Bob Tinari who was head of customer service the day before he locked the doors and the moving company showed-up to take everything to NY. It is a great shooter but I never imagined I would luck-into this thing. The pictures do not do it justice. I am a fortunate man, blessed, to have been entrusted with this rifle. It is insane how much I have been offered for this rifle. Well into five figures, the most recent happening just since the Ruger purchase of Marlin by an unnamed anonymous agent through a rep. I have my suspicions who it was ... but who knows. The agent gave me no clues but he was serious and it was an Arkansas area code so who knows.
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