Blueliner said

Welcome Dan,

You came ” hot ‘outta da box” !

 I have both categories, and that happened after I no longer could just stare into the safe…..

Good luck !

Bill  

Thanks guys.   My little one has strep throat and has been crying for the past 45 minutes.   So I figured I would log in and say hi while her milk warms on the stove.   I have two bids on the James D Julia auction, both through proxybid.   I was looking at the site for about two hours earlier tonight and discovered that I could bid for tomorrow’s auction online through either invaluable or through proxybid.   Bidding on two items, sight unseen which is not good, or is it?   The pictures looks fine, and I figure no seller would enter a fake or a refinished Winchester in this auction.   Or would they?   I am assuming that the auction community would be self policing, let’s say someone presented a total fake, or something that was refinished to the auction house.   Not sure that would go over well, or even be allowed.

There is risk here, which is why Big Larry has purchased a few items from Collector’s firearms.    I guess collectors firearms would make sure everything they list is 100% which is why they are a bit more pricey.   But if I get lucky in tomorrow’s auction, it’s not beyond the realm that I would pick up something for 50% of what I would have paid going through Collectors firearms?

I noticed a few items from the James D Julia auction were not bid on in the October auction.   Is it a fair assumption that the bidders picked up on a red flag at the October auction, and those items were not sold?   It could also be they were listed for too much money, so they did not sell.   Not sure it’s a good idea to bid on something that did not sell in the October auction.   I note a few pieces were re-listed in this auction but at a lower price.   But that could simply be a function of an over zealous asking price by the seller, combined with a softening market

Her milk is ready now, gotta go.   Thoughts?

JWA said
Welcome Dan,

You have come to the right place.  There is a great group here.

Regards,  

JWA,

I hear you, what I did was to place small bids, not even the minimum.   Looks like they have two auctions a year.   I think I will wait – lower my bids to almost nothing.   Heck, I will take a paper weight for a steal.    I bet there is a small group of people here who live in CT, NY, PA, VT, NJ and who met up at the action – the auction house is only 330 miles from my house, way closer if you live in VT or MA.    I may have to go there is person in the fall.    Bet that if I do, I will meet quite a few of you there.

Opps!   Got Lot 1074 for $7,500 against the guidance of $8,000 to $12,000.    In the October auction, it did not sell for the $10,000 to $18,000 guidance, so they re-listed it on this auction with reduced guidance of $8k to 12k.

I hope I was not bidding against anyone here, but if I was, they were onsite.    I had to rebid twice – my original bid was $5,000 and a few people bid this first to $6,000 within a few seconds, I bid it to $6,500 and someone onsite outbid me on the “twice” call to $7,000.   I waited until the 2nd call and then pressed the ‘bid again’ button to increase my final bid to $7,500 which won the auction.   So I won with a bid that was 75% of the low guidance on the October auction.

If it’s a complete fake then it will look real nice on my wall.   But there were a few bidders upping this that were onsite – I would not have felt that great if there was no bid but mine.   I paid more for my Cabot Clone Commander 1911 pistol than the $7,500 I paid for this rifle.

Had I not won this one, I also had a small $8,000 bid on Lot 1096 (a takedown 1894 Deluxe in 30-30) which was had $10,000 to $15,000 guidance.   This one went to $11,000 and I am wondering if Lot 1096 was the better deal regarding condition against price.   Lot 1096 was also in the October auction with guidance of $15,000 to $20,000.    This one also went for 75% of the low guidance from the October auction – actually 73.33% but had I upped the bid to $11,500 then I would have paid 76.66% of the October low guidance.

http://jamesdjulia.com/item/1096-396/

The above all said, like it or not guys, you are stuck with me, I am in the club now.   What do you guys think of the rifle below, at least from what you can see in the pictures and on the description.

http://jamesdjulia.com/item/1074-396/

SUPERB CASE COLORED ANTIQUE WINCHESTER 1886 RIFLE.

SN 77663. Cal. 45-70. 26″ oct bbl with nickel silver bladed sporting front sight and “1886” dated sporting folding staff rear sight. Bbl has traditional 2-line Winchester address on top bbl flat. Marked “45-70″ on top flat over chamber. Case colored receiver, hammer, finger lever, buttplate and forend cap. 2-pc nicely figured walnut stocks with crescent butt. Manufactured 1893 and is accompanied with factory letter verifying this configuration. CONDITION: Fine overall condition, with much factory blue finish remaining with several areas of finish loss now turning plum on muzzle of bbl and 12″ from muzzle on right side bbl flats. All corners of oct flats are sharp and fine. Full length tube magazine has slight pitting encompassing the last 4”, but has aged very well and now is rather plum overall. Case colored solid receiver has strong vivid case colors with area of darkening and light pitting on right side of receiver above loading gate assembly. Left side of receiver and top of chamber are excellent with vivid case colors and much factory lacquer remaining with some very minor lacquer loss and several very small areas of slight pitting. Upper and lower tangs are exceptionally fine with most all slightly fading case colors remaining. Walnut forearm is very fine with several small bruises on right hand side that are now slightly oil darkened but most all factory varnish remains. Buttstock very fine with several small bruises at wrist and several compression scratches towards crescent butt. An area of oil staining is present surrounding upper tang and climbing onto comb. This is a very pleasant and fine overall antique 1886 rifle with excellent bore and mechanics. 51591-5 (8,000-12,000) – Lot 1074

TXGunNut said
That’s a very handsome 1886!  

Thanks, this is going to be my shooter.   Do auction house’s allow the seller free reign with descriptions, or are some words relatively standardized, meaning roughly the same thing from auction to auction?   The last sentence says “excellent bore and mechanics” which hopefully means this has a 90 percent plus bore and a smooth and better than average action.    Are there standardized wording for auction descriptions?   Or does the word “excellent” vary wildly from one auction description to another?

Is this what the rear ladder sight will look like?   For those that have experience with this sight set up, is the down position as effective as a dovetail back sight?    I can’t wait to try it.   Since this will be my shooter, I may customize with something different but period accurate, perhaps a side mounted Lyman set up like I saw on some of the other 1886’s in this auction.     

http://www.midwestgunworks.com/page/mgwi/prod/C-018-2/M86S5

I grew up shooting iron sights, bb and pellet guns until age 10, then my Ruger 10-22 from then on.   There was an old 30 foot high railroad trestle over a small river two miles from my childhood home.  I would throw empty beer cans into the sometimes fast moving water, wait for them to float away, then shoot them until they sank.   I did this often, sometimes I was able to drag my friends away from their TV’s and video games to join me.   Which meant I shot alone quite a bit.

deerhunter said

Since this will be my shooter, I may customize with something different but period accurate, perhaps a side mounted Lyman set up like I saw on some of the other 1886’s in this auction.     

That’s a very nice 1886.  In my opinion it is a step above “shooter grade” and any alterations, such as adding a side mounted Lyman sight will greatly diminish the value since it would require drilling holes in the side of the receiver.  I desperately urge you not to do that. Serious Winchester collectors (myself included) will see that non-factory alteration as an eyesore and shy away from it. It will destroy the collector value.  If it were me, I would order a factory letter from the Cody firearms museum and keep it as original as possible, including the sight package.  That’s just my take.

Don  

Don,

Point taken on alterations.    How many steps are there above “shooter grade” anyways.   I suppose it is high time for me to take advantage of all the free periodicals and research materials that comes with my membership.    Making no alterations seems the way to go, which is fine by me.   I don’t want to destroy the value or ruin the gun.   Shooting it once in a while should not damage it.   I saw an auction with 30k-50 guidance go for 18k – that is the kind of weapon I hope to get in the fall (assuming they have another auction) my safe needs a queen!

Hoping someone will post a pic of their Winchester that has the same rear sight as mine.   There is a Cody letter that comes with the gun.   I posted a link to the auction page.  Directly below the description, there is a red lettered hyperlink that says “Click here to view provenance”.   The link brings you to a picture of a letter dated July 16, 2008 from the “Cody Firearms museum”  It seem legit, but to your point, I should probably order and pay for another letter – just in case that letter is a fake.   I do own pythons and I have seen all kinds of Tom Foolery with forgeries, re-bluing, non-original parts, etc. 

Vince said
Here’s one
  

Ha Ha Vince .   I have never handled an old Winchester and plan and shooting mine, so I was asking for pics of the back sight because I wanted to get an idea of what the sight picture would be.   To your point, I did a little research, and found a thread on page 12 of the ‘Winchester Swap Meet’ subforum that shows some nice close ups of what I think will be on my rifle.

https://winchestercollector.org/forum/winchester-swap-meet/for-sale-1886-ladder-rear-sight/

I will find out when I get it in about two weeks, unless I decide to drive the 350 miles each way and pick the rifle up at the auction house.

The Marlin 1895 LTD III (in 45-70) shown above is the only lever gun I own, and have ever shot for that matter.   I swapped out the original sights (elevator with buckhorn) with a ghost ring but like the way it shoots with both.  Shooting with the LTD’s original sights was pretty much the same as my 10-22, but with less space between the front and back sight on the LTD.