I think about what will happen when I’m gone.  What will my family do?  Recently I inventoried and documented everything I own. Took pictures of all of the guns.  Two binders contain everything I have related to each gun. I also have all this data on my computer, back up hard drive and a flash drive that I keep in the safe.  My family has been introduced to a couple of auction house owners.  My family will be fine without my collection dollars but whatever they get will be a plus. I could have wasted it on other things that would have resulted in no money when I am gone.

win4575 said
Chayns1969, tries to buy great guns at reasonable prices.  That gives he and his potential customer a chance to make some money.  It may not be the profit we were used to 10 years ago, but there is still some meat left on the bone for future sellers and/or collectors.  Notice he NEVER puts a reserve on any of his auction guns.  He feels people are much more apt to bid on a gun, because it starts everyone out at the bottom of the ladder, therefor he gets a lot of bids.   He understands that a gun may not sell for what he paid for it, but he’s willing to take that chance  Most of the time it pays off; once in a while it doesn’t.  I’ve said this many times before, people collect because they love collecting.  Makes no difference whether its pop bottle caps or firearms.  Just so happens, our collecting habits can be Very expensive at times.  2019 was a bad year for me personally, as I  lost several very close friends who’s gun collections were huge.  I had known some of these guys for over 50 years and we had collected since we were in our early 20’s.  We gun showed together, bought, sold and traded with one another all those years and watched our collections grow.   What they left behind were some extremely high quality, historic firearms and frontier memorabilia.  Their widows are now left to deal with literally hundreds of guns and other stuff.  Many of these guns are five and six figure pieces.  Where are they going to find buyers for these things.  Collecting has always been a passion for me, but at my age I don’t want to spend money on high dollar guns.  Who would I sell them too?  

I don’t know for sure who Chayns1969 is but he sure shows a lot of good pictures.  There is little to no doubt what you are buying. 

I had meant to include this earlier in the thread–

I had given several reasons for the declining interest in antique firearms and mentioned the socialism movement in this country as being anti firearm.  What I don’t understand is how both Theodore Roosevelt and Alexandria Orcasio-Cortez can be labeled as Progressives when one was an ardent conservationist, sportsman, and owner of many fine firearms; the other, and others like her, are clueless when it comes to firearms, land preservation and the outdoors, and wants to take your firearms from you, antique or otherwise.

steve004 said
Gun shows tend be a sea of grey hair (of those that have hair).  The younger people there are looking at plastic rifles, modern handguns and the like.  I know there are exceptions to this but they are all too rare.  A friend of mine recently attended a cartridge collector’s meeting.  He is 70.  He was the youngest person in the room.    

Steve, I will be 70 this year and am the youngest of the crowd I hang with.  When in my 30’s my daughter asked me why I always hung out with the old guys.  I told her that they were the most interesting and the stories they could tell were priceless.  By the way, I legally own 2 black guns.  They are fun to shoot.  I have bought a few guns just because I could and it was against the local Socialists wishes.  I have been contemplating getting a concealed carry permit just because I can, not that I need one.  The few times I thought I should I did.

There was a time I was the youngest in my crowd by about 50 years.  That is no longer true, but I am still the youngest in my crowd 😉