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I’m a bad member as in I have yet to invest in the Redbook. But in the 37th edition of the blue book they have a section of colored photos with grading examples. My question is this, if I have a pretty good condition original 94 SRC with no bluing left on the receiver displaying the brownish patina it has proudly earned in it’s 80+ yrs on this earth. Is it to be valued at 10-20% as this book suggest?
If you want a value on a gun without seeing pictures is a pure guess since everybody has a different idea of what the condition of their gun is.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
November 7, 2015
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I think there are many good points in the Blue Book’s grading section. To give the gun an overall grade the entire gun has to be taken into consideration. Even then two experts may have differing opinions. The Red Book’s grading section is helpful and as an inexperienced collector I find both books helpful. Sometimes one complements the other, sometimes they differ, always helps me to consider more than one source for a better understanding.
I’m not inquiring about an appraisal on something of mine just in general I feel like the blue book condition grading under estimates the win market. There is an example of a 94 rifle pretty decent picture of a gun I would love to own at an 800$ price tag. But that condition I’ve never found offered in that neighborhood of pricing. I was just wandering if I give some of these guns too much credit, according to the blue book I do.
When I want to set a price on a gun for sale I go to past auctions with prices realized, (Rock Island and Julia’s). Blue Book and others get the value est. from past auctions, why not go right to the source. Past auctions takes longer and is not very handy at gun shows, but you can look at good pictures, descriptions, and prices realized. Find a similar gun and what it sold for, read the description, it’s more informative than the book. Those books are quick but do not account for special features and rarities. Auction companies love to see people with a gun value book in their hand sitting in the room. T/R
patrick tompkins said
I’m a bad member as in I have yet to invest in the Redbook. But in the 37th edition of the blue book they have a section of colored photos with grading examples. My question is this, if I have a pretty good condition original 94 SRC with no bluing left on the receiver displaying the brownish patina it has proudly earned in it’s 80+ yrs on this earth. Is it to be valued at 10-20% as this book suggest?
I don’t think you went to the wrong place, just no one is answering the question you asked, which is something endemic to forums. Ask what time it is and you’ll find out how to make a watch and who makes the best one.
I’ll probably get flak for this but as far as I’m concerned, the grading of an old rifle should be equal to that of the worst part of it, e.g. it can have the best original case hardening on the receiver but if the edges of the flats on an octagon barrel have dents or rust pits, that is what determines the “condition”.
"This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
Patrick, you cannot value an antique gun by percent of finish alone. I use the term clean gun and dirty gun, a clean gun with 80% blue and 20% aged patina is worth half again more than a dirty gun with 80% blue and 20% rust pits. The Blue Book does not take this and many other flaws into account. T/R
Patrick,
The standards in the various books are trying to define a condition, which then can be used as a common definition for all to try to get to. A collector is going to be more refined in all aspects of a gun’s condition than a buyer of less purpose.
To get an agreed upon condition is impossible. All the books try to get to their audience, generalized or very specific.
Trying to explain What you see and use a term is impossible to assume it’s the same judgement of another’s eyes.
Look at all the books, as they define condition. To then put a price on a gun and publish it creates a big time gap.
Below is the NRA’s best shot.
The mandatory research is to see what others are asking on the many websites right now, for the gun you have.
There are “silver” receiver guns in 94 SRC, and many calibers. Some have more barrel blue than others, and then again they have varying wood conditions. I don’t know the year or caliber of your gun, but find one on GunsInternational, GunsAmerica, Merz Antiques, Gun Broker, auction houses and many more. That’s where your gun and it’s condition meets today’s market price. Good luck, Bill
http://www.nramuseum.com/gun-info-research/evaluating-firearms-condition.aspx
As other have explained blue on a gun can be bright blue, dull blue, thin blue or blue mixed with patina and the books have no provisions to grade the type of blue. They are just concerned with the coverage of blue. The same is true with a gun with no finish left. It can have a smooth shinny metal finish, a full patina with no blue or varying degrees of rusted and they all would have different values. Then you get into 94’s that tend to loose the receiver blue but still have barrel and tube blue, they are mixed condition and introduce another level interpretation. The NRA grading system does take some of this into account with their antique grading system but its has big jumps in condition. The Red Book is a little bit better in defining the condition of the gun but with both systems you must interpolate between levels. It would be impossible to write a gun value book to cover all conditions of a gun.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
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