Torandir, setting a value on a pinfire is a tricky, and wholly a matter of perspective. As you surmise, it can never be a shooter, and that’s the main point of reference in Canada. It is, to use the kiss-of-death term, a “wall-hanger,” and the Canadian market sets a low value on these. To someone who just likes the look or ‘old vibe’, $100 is enough to pay for a man-cave decoration. A slot in a gun-safe is valuable real estate, so not many are going to purchase such a gun just to take up room in a safe. A wall-hanger on a gun-show table is not a lot of money.
To someone wanting a pinfire as a collector piece, the value goes up. Someone with money to spare could easily fork out $200-300 or more and consider it a good bargain for an interesting piece of gunmaking history, if they are interested in such things, or just a cool or weird-looking gun -- something to round out a collection, already having flint and percussion guns. These latter two can have a much higher perceived value in Canada, as these can be shooters with the materials available.
Then you get into the serious collectors. One of these hypothetical beings might be interested in European guns, or specifically Austrian guns, whose eyes widen and breathing stops at “Johann Springer,” like people do when they hear ‘Purdey,’ ‘Boss,’ or ‘Holland & Holland.’ A Springer pinfire is not a ‘factory’ gun. A few hundred might have been made over the space of several decades, not a few hundred thousand. Most will have been converted to centre-fire, or destroyed by time. These guns were made at a time when a shooting season might involve many thousands of rounds in driven shoots, or still substantial use in walked-up shooting. Someone who could afford a Springer had land, time, and a burning passion for the hunt. If the gun is indeed from the beginning of the Springer business, maybe even pre-1860, then the number of Springer pinfires would be in the tens, not hundreds. Sure, more were made later, possibly for a few decades, but an early one? Rare indeed. An earlier gun would be more likely to have been engraved by Springer himself. Questions might be raised on who made the locks? The barrels? Another type of serious collector will be interested in the type of action and barrel fastening, and where it fits in gunmaking history. How does it compare to other Springer pinfires? (a few have shown up at auction) Does the under lever engage a single bite or notch, or two? Does it follow Lefaucheux’s design, or did Springer add his own improvements? As to my own interests in the adoption of the pinfire system in Britain, what design influences from European guns occurred, and when? The year 1860 predates about 99% of British pinfires, so anything around then has a different kind of historical significance.
To a serious collector, getting one’s hands on a Springer pinfire could be a bargain at $1000, and climb upwards from there. I’m not above paying several thousand for a ‘wall-hanger’ if I feel I need it to fill a knowledge gap in my research, though it has to be worth it. But not every pinfire is worth that kind of cash, most are not (even to me), and there are important caveats that come into play, most important being condition. A $3000 gun can become a $30 gun with the swipe of a buffing wheel, a splash of wood stain, or curious fiddling with the wrong screwdriver. Or dry-firing. Or poor storage. Or rust. Or replaced parts. Or the wrong cartridge. A Springer pinfire would probably have been brought over by an immigrant, taking their pride and joy with them to a new land. I expect it was in its original oak or mahogany case, with pinfire loading tools. A quality gun by an exclusive maker. Fast-forward a few generations later, it is sitting at the back of someone’s cupboard, wood drying out, an uncleaned bore left to corrode, case and tools long gone, and maybe used as a kid’s plaything.
The danger of such a gun being messed with is much higher on this side of the Atlantic, as it will have had no perceived value to protect it. In Europe, interest in the pinfire is greater, though they too went through a period in the early to mid 20th century when the pinfire had little value and most were recycled or junked. I shudder to think how many British pinfires were junked, iron melted down and their stocks fed into the woodstoves that kept workers warm while they built the next trend of guns.
Sorry for the long-winded answer, but to get back to your question of value, it depends on condition, and the reason someone might want it. Both of these are different depending on where you are at the time, and extremely variable. I would be surprised to hear of two early Johann Springer pinfires in Canada (I was surprised enough to hear of one), in other words the odds are that you are unlikely to ever see another. How much that is worth is difficult to pin down. Unfortunately some sellers think “old gun=$$$$$”, and that’s certainly not the case. Even uniqueness has little monetary value in the Canadian gun market – big-production machine-made Winchesters go for exorbitant sums, while craftsmen's’ pieces go for little by comparison. But remember, collector value can go from high to low in an instant by a well-meaning ‘cleaning’ or ‘sprucing up.’ Your pictures are not quite clear enough to judge condition and wear, or to determine specific details.
European makers carry little weight in Canada, in part because of the flood of Belgian junk over the years. Few around here have heard of the best Belgian, French, Austrian makers etc., or seen many top-end pieces. At auction in Europe a Springer pinfire might be had for 700-1000 Euros, for an unmolested piece in good condition, or a few hundred British pounds in the UK, where there is little demand for Continental makers. Or it could be more, depending on the auction, and details on the gun. Many auction buyers in Europe are dealers, so prices go up on the retail collectors market. And pinfires are more likely to appear in a European auction than a North American one. But at the end of the day, a pinfire will always be a curio, little more. That limits the number of prospective buyers, and collection value is about condition, provenance and completeness (the latter two don’t apply with this gun, unfortunately).
