Early production 16 ga Wingmaster

[Fireworks]

I recently inherited my father's 870 wingmaster 16ga. that he purchased new when he was 17.
I put a lot of miles on that gun when I was a teen before I bought my own.
Production date on the barrel is Jan. 1951. The Internets tell me that that the 870 was introduced in 1950, so that would make this gun a fairly early production example, maybe the first run in 16ga.

Does this add any value? I'd never sell it, but it seems prudent to document the value in case I ever need to make an insurance claim.

 

[Longwalker]

The greatest value is to you as an heirloom and from providing so many good memories. That's valuable. 870's are fine, solid guns but don't have much collector value. Among 16 ga. fanatics, the 16 ga. Wingmasters are generally not highly regarded because they are built on a 12 ga. frame with a 16 ga. barrel. Perfectly sensible and functional, just not artistically scaled for the 16 ga chambering. I would value a 16 ga. Wingmaster at less than the 12 ga. versions that are commonly available. Others may pay a slight premium for a 16 ga.

 

[struff55]

Very cool to have a wingmaster from that time but as said it’s not a holly grail just a nice old gun monetary value $300-600$ the high end being optimistic