Best for future?
- Thread starter 89diesel
- Start date
- Location
- Regina, SK
As others have noted, some guns have really appreciated but one has to be careful when it comes to buying antique guns as an investment. Am not sure prescribed antique "shooters" (handguns that have been converted or otherwise modified) will appreciate very much as their values are already high in Canada. Some folks have made some good money importing these guns, converting them and then reselling - am not sure if that market is still very active.
In addition, the government can change legislation and your investment might be worth much less (e.g., if antique guns were ever required to be registered).
When it comes to the nicest collector guns (e.g. Colts and Winchesters and similar makes), unless they are 100% original collectors will avoid them (or lowball you if interested in buying). And there are lots of fakes out there. When I lived in the US I bought a Colt cavalry that was faked and it lost half its value when I sold it to a antique dealer (it ended up at a US auction a year or so later and was sold to another unsuspecting buyer: the auction house reported the gun was "assembled").
In other words - buy an antique to shoot and enjoy but if you are looking to invest for the long term you have to be super careful.
Just my .02 - when it comes to money I am often wrong!
In addition, the government can change legislation and your investment might be worth much less (e.g., if antique guns were ever required to be registered).
When it comes to the nicest collector guns (e.g. Colts and Winchesters and similar makes), unless they are 100% original collectors will avoid them (or lowball you if interested in buying). And there are lots of fakes out there. When I lived in the US I bought a Colt cavalry that was faked and it lost half its value when I sold it to a antique dealer (it ended up at a US auction a year or so later and was sold to another unsuspecting buyer: the auction house reported the gun was "assembled").
In other words - buy an antique to shoot and enjoy but if you are looking to invest for the long term you have to be super careful.
Just my .02 - when it comes to money I am often wrong!
vagrantviking
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Southern Alberta
I will agree with Mooncoon that you really want to consider the size of the market if you are going to buy niche items as an investment.
I've inherited a gun collection with many custom muzzle loaders and if I needed to liquidate them for the estate it would take years to sell them for what they are really worth because it's a very small market.
I've inherited a gun collection with many custom muzzle loaders and if I needed to liquidate them for the estate it would take years to sell them for what they are really worth because it's a very small market.
But, unfortunately the goalpost for "antique status" is fixed in time (1898) for firearms and not a constantly adjusting thing like "antique" (### years old) is for cars, furniture, and many other things. Just another example of how firearms and their owners are being "discriminated" against......legally.
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- Location
- West coast of Vancouver Island
Op there are many collectible black powder rifles like Sniders, Martini-Henrys and Springfields that can be found for around $1000.00.
If your concerned about a gun grab... I wouldn't be investing in any firearms. True, the rules can & have changed as Mooncoon stated; but that didn't effect true collectible antique firearms. Not saying that laws are smart or make sense. But a true investment piece (for the most part) would have only been altered, if at all, at the factory. Restorations are one thing, but altering an antique to fire a more available commercial round does not make it more collectible. In some cases it's more desirable as a shooter, but again, does nothing for it's value... My 2 cents of course!
The way the rules & exchange rate are set right now the U.S. market is the place to sell to, not purchase from... The market has always been a lot stronger there than here.
The way the rules & exchange rate are set right now the U.S. market is the place to sell to, not purchase from... The market has always been a lot stronger there than here.
Yeah, check the S&W Forum for a price check reality.
I thought that classic S&W revolvers were pricey here, but they go for several hundred more in the US. The hot items right now are M19 and M66 .357 snubbies. I've got a trio of them all bought for well under the US asking price.
Brutus
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I would concur with this as relatively 'safe' choices.
Want to add that right up until WWII, the trusty old standard in most of rural Europe & rural North America was a double barrel hammer shotgun sitting on pegs somewhere handy for the man of the household. Some shells nearby in a porcelain jar.
And was that way for a long long time.
And all curious kids were warned that a terrible fate awaits them via dad, IF they messed with it.
I would agree that original (unaltered) Winchester lever guns <$3500 would be a good investment. The market for high end top dollar (>$5000) is small in Canada, not so in the US. Winchester levers in EE do not last long and often reasonably priced ones are sold within hours of listing.
Yeah, but realistically every posting in the obits in the paper, narrows the number of guys down that can actually buy those from you. In the long term, they become trot line sinkers or part of the load in the steel furnace.
As investments, and relatively future proof, I would suggest that Colt SAA and Cap and Ball Revolvers in original condition, would be worth learning enough about to be able to reasonably adjudge the condition as well as originality, so as to be able to (mostly) avoid getting badly burned.
Stuff like the early big S&W revolvers too.
I would avoid stuff that has been artificially inflated by their being 'prescribed antiques' in Canada, and simply just another modified old gun, anywhere else, as investment material. Good racket if bringing them in to flip, building them up from parts, etc., but not a secure long term.
If looking at the likelihood of further tightening of laws, yep. Avoid guns, unless you are burying them for later sale on the black market, with all the attendant risks that brings.
As pure investments, fancier seems better than plain. Buy some when the economy is in the pooper, sell some when it's rocking along, repeat with the cycle. It's a long game though. High end guns always seem to find a market. Might be worth subscribing to the James D Julia auction lists for a while, to see what stuff is selling for in the US, and pay particular attention to the products that can be readily transported across the Borders without too much hassle, like the flintlocks and Cap and Ball guns. That gives you fairly ready access to a larger market if you need.
Cheers
Trev
In England, they are allowed to shoot handguns 18" + OAL (long barreled revolver and or a piece of metal welded to the grip bottom to achieve 18"), Antiques and anything without cartridges... Cap n Ball revolvers are the big boom there right now, some even with 209 primer conversion and smokeless loads.
CG
CG
Hey stranger!
I think it worth separating antiques, from Prescribed Antiques. The value of the former, is always going to hold pretty well, while the latter, some will still hold some of their value, but many are just another molested old gun that will never be original again.
Most of those latter, are not really great investments anyways, unless you are in the really short game.
Short or long guns, original ones are always going to be in more demand than built or modified examples.
Might as well collect something you like too, as you never know if the market is going to be up or down in a few years time, and learning a whole LOT about a subject you don't actually care about, is a fools errand, unless someone else is paying you to do it.
Cheers
Trev
...especially if we keep reminding them about it. Thet learned everything they know right here, we should try not to make it any easier to let them screw us.
Suther, early Lees and even the 303Brit were loaded with black powder. But I agree, the OP was asking about "antique status" firearms.
Personally I don't think you can go wrong with Webley antique pistols or any martially marked pre 1898 pistols that qualify. US pistols made from their first gunmakers on through the Revolution as well as the Civil War and Spanish American War come to mind as well as the rifles from those periods. Both commercial and military will fetch high dollars but of course, like everything else, condition is everything. Martial marking stamps will usually enhance the value of most models.
