Sharps 1863 thoughts on how to sell

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Tuscani922

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Hey all, I am wondering if someone here can give me some guidance on how/where to sell an old Sharps 1863 rifle. It has a serial number of C34459. It’s .52 calibre. Not too many were made within this range from what I read. My father in law is looking to sell, and I have no ideas where to post such a collector specific firearm. I don’t even know if this is the right forum. My father in law mentioned that he is sure this gun was used in the civil war, so this forum seems appropriate. We tried the lgs, and unfortunately there wasn’t any real knowledge of the gun or its value, so not sure where to go at this point.

I can post pictures if anyone would like, but really looking for guidance on WHERE/ideas on how to sell this, as I suspect this is going to be wanted by a collector and not an average gun owner. If anyone has any ideas, please reach out and let me know.

Thanks everyone!!
 
may want to try the auction houses, Switzers auctions for one. they always get a pretty good dollar on stuff, but you do take a hit on their commission. you could start by looking on iCollector to see what they have sold for...
 
Sharps rifles can be very collectible. Condition and originality is everything. Pictures go a long way to determining value. There are a few of us Sharps collecters here who would be happy to help!
 
Ok, well would love to hear some opinions on this! I can text pics or if someone can recommend a photo hosting website, I can try to post here!

ArtyMan said:
Sharps rifles can be very collectible. Condition and originality is everything. Pictures go a long way to determining value. There are a few of us Sharps collecters here who would be happy to help!
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Awesome!! Thanks for the advice! Didn’t even know about icollector or Switzers, I will check them out! Thanks so much!:)

dakotamar said:
may want to try the auction houses, Switzers auctions for one. they always get a pretty good dollar on stuff, but you do take a hit on their commission. you could start by looking on iCollector to see what they have sold for...
Click to expand...
 
Ok, so looking through icollector, these things can sell for anywhere between 0 and 4500us and even more. I can’t tell the differences between the rifles, to understand the pricing differences. This particular one has been converted to metal cartridge, however in .52 caliber as opposed to the 50-70 ones I was seeing on icollector. Can anyone give me specific things to look for for collectibility?
Anyone know of someone in or around the gta that could look at this thing and give me an idea? Would be glad to send pics of specific things to give an idea of collectibility. My apologies for the questions, I am just trying to prevent the FIL from losing his prized rifle to an entity that won’t care for it like he did.

Tuscani922 said:
Awesome!! Thanks for the advice! Didn’t even know about icollector or Switzers, I will check them out! Thanks so much!:)
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The metallic cartridge conversion will impact value - sometimes positively, though sometimes unconverted guns will be worth more. The biggest factor (and others jump in if I'm wrong) seems to be who did the work and when. US Government conversions in the late 1860s can be identified usually by US Government inspectors stamps on the left side of the stock. Some gunsmith conversions are also marked and some can add quite a bit of value if they are known or prominent. Some conversions such as "Meecham" or Bannerman type guns will (generally) bring less.

There is a very large and nuanced word to sharps collecting and dollar values.
 
Also if it's a US Government conversions, SOME of the early metallic cartridge conversions kept the original 52 calibre bore (look for 6 grooves as opposed to 3) and used the 70gr charge in a metallic cartridge if I remember correctly. The later standardized on a lined bore for the 50-70 which typically loaded a .512-.514 diameter bullet in the 450gr range over 70gr black powder.
 
Ok, so it’s got the six grooves.

Can you clarify what the Govt stamp would look like?

ArtyMan said:
Also if it's a US Government conversions, SOME of the early metallic cartridge conversions kept the original 52 calibre bore (look for 6 grooves as opposed to 3) and used the 70gr charge in a metallic cartridge if I remember correctly. The later standardized on a lined bore for the 50-70 which typically loaded a .512-.514 diameter bullet in the 450gr range over 70gr black powder.
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The 1868 Government conversions are usually stamped "DFC" inside a little box / ribbon on the left side of the butt stock. That being said a lot happens to wood in 150+ years and stamps are often faded or gone if refinished or replaced.
 
DFC is the initials of US Government inspector David C Clarke, who I believe worked at the US National Armory in Springfield
 
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