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Any thoughts and/or experience with iCollector.com?
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November 27, 2021 - 5:39 pm
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I keep encountering references to icollector.com, as both images/links and in written descriptions.  icollector.com is an interesting “gateway” to other auction sites.

Distancing myself from Gunbroker, I’ve been leaning towards Guns International at the suggestion of others here.  So far, icollector.com and the sites accessed through it seem to be another source.

Any personal experience to share?

Thanks for your opinions,

Dorsey

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November 27, 2021 - 7:55 pm
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[email protected] said
Distancing myself from Gunbroker, I’ve been leaning towards Guns International at the suggestion of others here. 

Prices are always high on GI, & the selection more limited than GB, buy still, it’s preferable to the “15 min. rule,” which everyone except the sellers bitterly hates.  However, it is possible to ask the seller of something that’s been listed a long time (which includes most everything) to consider a lower price.  Unfortunately, most of the sellers on GI have shops, so they don’t much care how long a grossly overpriced gun stagnates, such as Collector’s in Houston; all ads with their name, I skip entirely.

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November 27, 2021 - 9:51 pm
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[email protected] said
I keep encountering references to icollector.com, as both images/links and in written descriptions.  icollector.com is an interesting “gateway” to other auction sites.

Distancing myself from Gunbroker, I’ve been leaning towards Guns International at the suggestion of others here.  So far, icollector.com and the sites accessed through it seem to be another source.

Any personal experience to share?

Thanks for your opinions,

Dorsey  

To save money deal directly with the company or person that actually is selling the gun.  Icollector like Proxybid helps facilitate online sales for the sellers.  

There is a premium for buying through Icollector or Proxybid on top of all the rest.  You pay extra for using a credit card too.  So you pay the buyers premium plus the credit card fee plus the Icollector fee and then sales tax on top of it all.  You can save some money by paying with a check.

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November 27, 2021 - 10:01 pm
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When you are negotiating for a piece at a show, if the price seems a little high, keep in mind the various fees you are avoiding such as all that Chuck mentioned if you buy something through Icollectior, Proxibid or even directly from a big auction house.

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November 27, 2021 - 10:21 pm
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Chuck said
 You can save some money by paying with a check.  

You can save a lot more by exercising the self-restraint of saying “I can live without that.”

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November 27, 2021 - 10:32 pm
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Self restraint is something I don’t want to exercise.  I just like to make the best buy I can.  Avoiding auction houses and not buying guns that I have not picked up and looked at are the best way to save money.

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November 28, 2021 - 2:08 am
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Chuck said
Self restraint is something I don’t want to exercise.  I just like to make the best buy I can. 

“Avoiding auction houses and not buying guns that I have not picked up and looked at are the best way to save money”.  

I agree with that 100%

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November 28, 2021 - 12:32 pm
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Chuck said
Self restraint is something I don’t want to exercise.  I just like to make the best buy I can.  Avoiding auction houses and not buying guns that I have not picked up and looked at are the best way to save money.  

 Well said and good advice! 

 When it comes to rare guns,  I’ll deal with anyone and play by their rules. Rare is rare! Like Chuck said. “Self restraint is something I don’t want to exercise.” T/R

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November 28, 2021 - 1:55 pm
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TR said

 Well said and good advice! 

 When it comes to rare guns,  I’ll deal with anyone and play by their rules. Rare is rare! Like Chuck said. “Self restraint is something I don’t want to exercise.” T/R  

There’s a lot of individual circumstances that come into play.  A big one is how much discretionary money you have available.  As an example, I’m thinking about the people who have made crazy money in the stock market the last several five or six years.  If spending a fraction of that money impulsively on collectible firearms – so what?  

Another line of thought – gun collecting can be addictive.  Sometimes this happens because those doing the collecting are addiction-prone.  Impulsive spending your money on prostitutes and cocaine, the casino and so on, is hardly a better alternative.  Aside from such dramatic examples, item such as expensive clothes, luxury vehicles etc. can eat up a lot of money. The expensive clothes topic really gets to me.  I’ve seen people spend more money on clothes than what I could have purchased a very nice lever rifle for.  And talk about an example of something that is worth almost nothing after you leave the store with it.  I’ve also seen where expensive clothes can be purchased very impulsively (more-so by women).

Another line of thought – you save your entire life, take a pass on the nice rifles you’d really enjoy having, and in the end, your heirs blow all your money.  

Another line of thought has to do with thinking downrange.  That is, what is ultimately going to happen to your collection.  We’ve talked about this in other threads.  Again, there is tremendous variability among individual situations.  On one side, you don’t want to leave a mess for your spouse to deal with.  Far at the other end, some of you had father’s who were collectors and you inherited their rifles.  That’s a wonderful scenario.  As a father, you can add to your collection and know they will be passed on and appreciated.  As a son… well, it works out well… your glad your Dad didn’t spend all that money on expensive clothes.  Some here have mentioned they are confirmed bachelors.  For them, as long as you don’t spend so much you don’t have money to live on, “impulsive spending” – why not buy what you want?

The final topic I’ll bring up is spending, “too much” money for a piece.  My thought is if it is something that you have really wanted, something you have maybe looked for, for decades, I can understand.  Maybe fellow collectors suggest you paid too much – they would not have paid that much.  Well, did they want it as bad?  Would you have been better off buying two rifles that you didn’t want as much, but everyone else agree were good deals?  We often talk about crazy auction hammer prices.  Some of these guys bid that high because they really want that gun.  Or, sometimes, the high bidding has little to do with the gun and everything to do with some big egos slugging it out.  I don’t relate to that scenario, but hey, if the ego burst you receive from beating the other guy is such a satisfying blast for you – it’s your money and your choice how to spend it.  What I do understand is each of us wants to make our life interesting and enjoyable.  We are all different people with different personalities, circumstances, perspectives, values, philosophies, interests and on and on.  Large variabilities in what we see others doing is to be expected.  When we see a snapshot of something, we typically don’t know what the variables are.  If I see someone pay what I consider a crazy hammer price for a gun, I don’t know if they had been looking for that piece for 30 years, or if they have more money than they’ll ever spend and they just don’t care, etc.   Or, maybe they’re a dealer/speculator and they have a customer that they know will pay even more for the piece!

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November 28, 2021 - 2:22 pm
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Bang on Steve and as far as spending too much money on a certain piece or overpaying, it happens to everyone at least once imo. Been there done that but cut my losses eventually & moved on. Lesson learned.

The days of $2-$500 antique Winchesters being located & bought up passed many years ago in the 70’s & 80’s. Yes the odd barn find surfaces here & there but they’re now as rare as a 3/4 mag.

I never had an addictive personality…until I was introduced to this thing called a Winchester.

RickC

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November 28, 2021 - 3:14 pm
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George Madis told me, “You never pay too much for a Winchester, you just bought it to soon”.  I have always been drawn to the unusual configured pieces and rare calibers that some buyers pass up due to lack of provenance.  So I pay more than what someone else is willing to pay, but I got what I wanted.  Mostly I have had more “sellers remorse” than “buyers remorse”.  Just my view.  RDB Wink

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November 28, 2021 - 3:14 pm
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RickC said
Bang on Steve and as far as spending too much money on a certain piece or overpaying, it happens to everyone at least once imo. Been there done that but cut my losses eventually & moved on. Lesson learned.

The days of $2-$500 antique Winchesters being located & bought up passed many years ago in the 70’s & 80’s. Yes the odd barn find surfaces here & there but they’re now as rare as a 3/4 mag.

I never had an addictive personality…until I was introduced to this thing called a Winchester.

RickC  

 Well said!

 I have many times thought I spent to much money on a gun, only to find out later it was a bargain. Taking a chance is part of the hobby. Many of those chances have been sold to finance my hobby. Some at a loss, but most for a gain. No pain, no gain! The biggest gains have been on rare guns that I paid up for. I am not a man of wealth, just a working man that spent the time to know what he was buying. I limited my buy in and operated on that cap amount. I never thought guns were an investment so I was not disappointed. It’s been a fun hobby. T/R

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November 28, 2021 - 4:44 pm
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Nice pieces sure seem on the move – and not down!  My interest in lever rifles extends beyond Winchester and Bullards are objects of my desire.  Last month, Morphy auctions had one listed.  Even though it is described in “very good” condition, it looked plenty nice to me.  The auction estimate is $12-$15,000 with a minimum bid of $6,000.  The fantasy that it might hammer on the low side formed in my head.  Wow, was I wrong.  It hammered for $36,900.  Even though that includes, “buyer’s premium,” still, with sales tax, etc., I suspect nearly $40,000 was shelled out for this piece.  That was a reality check for me!

https://auctions.morphyauctions.com/_A__SCARCE_BULLARD_LAR__40_60_CALIBER_LEVER_ACTION-LOT515430.aspx

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November 28, 2021 - 4:51 pm
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steve004 said
Nice pieces sure seem on the move – and not down!  My interest in lever rifles extends beyond Winchester and Bullards are objects of my desire.  Last month, Morphy auctions had one listed.  Even though it is described in “very good” condition, it looked plenty nice to me.  The auction estimate is $12-$15,000 with a minimum bid of $6,000.  The fantasy that it might hammer on the low side formed in my head.  Wow, was I wrong.  It hammered for $36,900.  Even though that includes, “buyer’s premium,” still, with sales tax, etc., I suspect nearly $40,000 was shelled out for this piece.  That was a reality check for me!

https://auctions.morphyauctions.com/_A__SCARCE_BULLARD_LAR__40_60_CALIBER_LEVER_ACTION-LOT515430.aspx  

Thanks for sharing Steve. Beautiful rifle. A little out of my comfort zone on price. Actually about 4 times higher than my comfort zone but one can look & dream for free. Really like this Bullard.

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November 28, 2021 - 5:02 pm
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RickC said

Thanks for sharing Steve. Beautiful rifle. A little out of my comfort zone on price. Actually about 4 times higher than my comfort zone but one can look & dream for free. Really like this Bullard.  

Rick – I’m with you on that!  Way out of my comfort zone for price.  I had the fantasy it would sell for about a quarter of what it hammered for.   I have noticed a lot of fantasies don’t come true.

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November 28, 2021 - 5:27 pm
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Chuck said
Avoiding auction houses and not buying guns that I have not picked up and looked at are the best way to save money.  

Ideally, you should handle everything before bidding on it.  Often, it’s not possible.

Why avoid auction houses if you can find what you want and it hammers at a good price, even including any and all fluff?

Of course, most lots hammer at much more than desired, especially when it comes to a big name firearms auction house in the Midwest.

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November 28, 2021 - 5:34 pm
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mrcvs said

Ideally, you should handle everything before bidding on it.  Often, it’s not possible.

Why avoid auction houses if you can find what you want and it hammers at a good price, even including any and all fluff?

Of course, most lots hammer at much more than desired, especially when it comes to a big name firearms auction house in the Midwest.  

The auction houses are often able to attract very desirable items.  Many long-term collections get disposed of through the auction houses.  Some of that stuff hasn’t seen the light of day in 50 years.  I agree that handling something before bidding/purchasing is very desirable.  I also think buying at shows is preferable to auction houses as you’re not bidding with others.  For some, traveling to shows or the auction house viewings is much more feasible than it is for others.  I always wished I had been able to travel to more shows.  

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November 28, 2021 - 6:10 pm
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I’ve bought guns from auction houses but over the last 30+ years most of my best buys were face to face with the owner.  I understand what all of you are saying, and especially Steve’s comments.  Like Clarence said, sometimes not bidding is the best bet. Most Winchesters are not so rare that another can’t be found.  You need to have some patience.  Like TR said, I have over paid on a few instances, even the auction house owner told me so.  The gun was rare and I wanted it.

To each his own.

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November 28, 2021 - 6:51 pm
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I agree with all that Chuck but imo the 16” stainless bl 94 carbine Dana bought at auction was one you’re not likely to find another for sale. Wish it was mine. Love the trappers.

https://www.proxibid.com/Firearms-Military-Artifacts/Firearms/Winchester-Model-94/lotInformation/64888511

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November 28, 2021 - 9:19 pm
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Chuck said
I’ve bought guns from auction houses but over the last 30+ years most of my best buys were face to face with the owner.  I understand what all of you are saying, and especially Steve’s comments.  Like Clarence said, sometimes not bidding is the best bet. Most Winchesters are not so rare that another can’t be found.  You need to have some patience.  Like TR said, I have over paid on a few instances, even the auction house owner told me so.  The gun was rare and I wanted it.

To each his own.  

There’s several perspectives that can come into play.  Let’s say a guy has had his sights set on a Deluxe Model 1892 .44-40 takedown in high condition.  As we know, these can take a lot of years to find.  And let’s say he’s got a budget set aside for one and is ready to go.  He finds one at a big auction house and the bidding is fierce.  But going in, he knew a gun like this would draw a lot of interest, so he was realistic about what it would take.  He bids – and wins.  But, he didn’t go over his planned maximum bid.  So, this means that he was willing to pay more for that rifle than any other collector (or shill bidder) attending.  Did he pay too much?  Sure, in the sense that everyone else after that rifle was not willing to pay that much.  Sometimes that’s what it takes to get what you want.  

I had another thought on gun shows vs. auctions.  An advantage of an auction is you are aware (i.e. through the catalog or attending the auction preview) of everything that is there.  None of it is going to disappear before you get a chance at it.  At gun shows, the best stuff gets sold or traded during set-up.  You don’t even know what you missed.  

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