Crazy auction prices on parts!

Niche collecting? That's all I can think. Something special about them like a certain marking.
Either that, or they may be NOS receivers that were never assembled. Those bring a very hefty premium price.

There are folks around who have boxes full of NOS parts, everything but the receivers. They watch for the receivers, so they can build virtually undetectable complete rifles.

I remember a couple of lots of such receivers coming up for auction, usually a hundred at a time. They never did bring premium prices back then, because new or refurbished rifles were still available from the surplus arms dealers, which were all over the country, in those days, at very reasonable prices.

That was 50 years ago. Every once in a while, that stuff shows up.

The last bunch I saw came out of the storage sheds of a collector/seller in Nevada.

He had thousands of NOS parts for Garands, M14s, Springfield O3 variants, Thompsons, Reisings, etc.

That was 12 years ago, and one of the well know, but now deceased dealers, Terry Oliver, from the Chilliwack area, went down there to arrange "legal" sale of all of it. Most of it went to the well known parts houses in the US, because there was so much of it, and only eligible dealers were allowed to bid on it. A lot of it went to CMP, after they raised enough funding to place winning bids.

Some of the parts, such as Springfield 03, Garand bolts and other stuff, all legal with the right documentation, he brought back to Canada, something he regretted, because he could have easily moved all of it in a few weeks in the US, without the documentation hassles. It took him a couple of years to sell it in Canada.
 
that 1903MkI receiver was a steal if it was not drilled and tapped. The 03A3 receivers... auction fever, I think. No way they would normally be worth that much. Whole rifles are often under $2K on the EE here, and can be even cheaper stateside if you care to import one.
 
huh... I just checked, those auctions are still live. And the receivers are all undrilled, intact, and NOT new old stock - definitely came off used guns.
There is also a complete 1903MkI there for a fairly high bid, considering the bore is listed a poor, pitted, and counter-bored (!).
 
Auctions are dumb. Very very very rarely is there a win, lots of folks get tied up in the bid wars. Same reason someone will pay $900 for a russian SKS from a store now in dog #### condition, but scoffs at someone asking $900 for a minty blued one from way back. Things are just weird sometimes.
 
While I agree, it seems a lot of the better examples of milsurp I like are only going to auctions these days. Good examples rarely show up on GP or the EE. It is what it is, and I sometimes now buy things at auction I can’t find elsewhere, even if expensive. Sign of the times.

If I had to liquidate my collection I might well consider the auction route now, I’d have enough good stuff to maybe negotiate a lower seller’s fee.
 
My all time favourite is the $4 800.- RASHEED at Switzers during C19, I believe.
Another went for $1900.- this year at Switzer's.
Both plus premium and tax (28%) o_O
Somebody got hurt real bad.
 
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