What's the stupidist thing you've done with a collectable.
 

I feel that I ought to share this tale of misfortune brought on by sheer stupidity with others who may learn something from it.
I have in my care a very nice condition Mauser 98 sporter with full Mannlicher type stock. When I got it I was proud to own it. It was all there right down to the claw mounted Kahles scope. As some may know claw mounts are quite unique to the rifle. Chances of lucking onto a scope and mounts that fit your gun are about like matching up a missing mag for you prized Luger. Mine was just such a thing.
I was going through things that I did not need anymore and found a few German scopes with claw mounts that I did not need anymore. Well to make a long story short I goofed up and sold the matching scope to my rifle!:mad: It only took me 6 months to discover this. How in the heck could I be so dumb! I sold them on Ebay, so I set about searching my feedbacks. I knew what state and city they went to, so that helped. I was able to get ahold of the buyer and arrange to buy the scope back. I paid him a bit more than he had paid, but it was worth it. Last week it came back home to me, unfortunately sometime in the past 6 months he had done some filing to the rear claw legs. It still fits, but is a little loose. I am presently having the legs welded to add on the damaged end.
Moral of the story, make sure you really really don't need things before you sell them!:cheers:

I had a nazi Red Cross dagger, did two stupid things, one sold it, the other before that, it was mint, straight from a depot, and it had a spot of rust on the outside scabbered, I took some 000 steel wool and instead of cleaning it, it scratched the &^%& of the paint!


lesson learned....

ed

Traded mint cederwood Gardner pattern Confederate canteen with turned mouthpiece and the nicely done initials" J.E.B." for an 1860 Colt army (matching with full cylynder scene, no blue, cool end of barell holster wear from horseback riding, and it shoots great) plus an 1816 Remington Maynard conversion rifled musket ( about in as issued cond.). Thinking I did good. A couple months later I spotted a picture of the guy in a trade mag. holding the canteen. After six or seven years of inflation I am almost back to even. The plus side is I have shot the heck out of that Colt ( tack driver ) with original nipples and springs and it is no worse for the wear.
I paid what I had in my wallet for the canteen at an antique consignment shop ( $98 ). I think about this every so often (research!). Through experience I have found I should not keep wood or textiles so it is for the best.:cheers:

I bought a small spur trigger Remington at an auction for $50. A few months later a buddy and I had a gunshow table and I sold it to him for $100. About 2 hrs later he sold it for $200. Found out later it was worth around $400! AH, the bliss of ignorance! :banghead:

Hugh, I'm with you. Since I'm in the business of selling guns, the only ones that I regret selling are the ones that I've sold too quickly and too cheaply (for 1/3 of the book value) without researching them sufficiently. TH

Well,

Substituting the non-vented firing pin on my Dutch 1906 for a vented VoPo one for shooting purposes. I have two spares and mixed them up somehow. The one that didn't work properly (too short, sear didn't catch it) ended up in the 1906. Shot a full mag full auto on the range that day and almost wrecked the pistol.

Petting a 6' rattlesnake, cost me $30,000 and the use of a finger. Beat that one! My finger was the collectable... Jerry Burney

Not so loud, the rest of the guys might not know my secret to gun trading.
Buy high-Sell low.

That how I've made mine!!!;)

How about selling a Party Leader PPK for $125.00. Then several years later while walking around a gun show, you happen upon a Walther collector who has a table full of Walther pistols and only a picture of a PPK like the one you sold a few years back. So you ask, "why do you have a picture of that PPK?" and of course he gives you the wonderful news that you sold a PPK for that is near priceless (at the time), because there were only a few known to exist then. The serial number is 185091K if anyone out there has it or knows where it is. BTW, this happened many years ago.

Mike

This thread reminds me of the signature of one of the members of another forum.

He signs off with:

"If I still had all of the money I spent on guns and cars I would probably spend it on guns and cars."

I understand this completely, too bad the wife doesn't.

Tac, I know there aint no such thang as I am now an expert on deadly snakes...As for gun deals gone wrong It would take too long to list em all. Although Mike B and his Party Leader has to be right up there...Jerry Burney

Why not, not as if I don't have a history of stupidity anyway. Last year I fell in love with the idea of the mountain man persona plus there is a wildlife preserve with lots of deer so I dropped about $325 on a flintlock and ALL the accessories. Two weeks later I sold the whole mess for $65 and was very happy to get rid of it. Just takes time to learn, everybody said. Takes practice. Just have to work out the problems. Every gun is different. Bull. The thing was a sewer pipe with a poorly applied theory of ignition. I will never shoot another gun that requires a decontamination procedure to scrub it and yourself after trying to get it to shoot. They are accurate, everybody said. How in the hell can you tell with all the smoke and grease burning and the crap in your eyes? Don't use as much primer powder, they said. Sharpen your flint. The only thing that was worse than it not igniting was when it did. Being the stoic idiotic type of person that I am, I didn't give up easily. Finally got it to explode on cue about half the time, at 25 yds I did well to hit a 10" target anywhere. Slug the bore, they said. ??? How do you push it out the other end? Try different bullets. Develop your own load. Cast you own bullets. Mix your own grease. Use a different patch. Nope. Done with that. I'd rather jump out of my climbing stand bare handed on the back of a deer than try to use that thing. Sorry this wasn't about a collectable, but I really had to get this off my chest. Never again. (By the way, I ordered a crossbow and ALL the accessories couple of days ago)

rk:bigbye:

Of course TAC, the crossbow was state of the art protection in 1130 Ad Deum... It is only natural that your royalty would take it away from you...

Tac, Nah, I'm kiddin ya..I don't know a durn thing about snakes except they cost ya a lot of money if they bite you! Seems they want to keep idiots alive for some reason.
A fur bearing adder huh? Sounds like a tall tale....
RK, I quit myself for the same reasons! Jerry Burney

What's the stupidest thing I've ever done with a collectable?

I married her. Okay, she wasn't collectable, but she was an antique...

:roflmao:

Oh boy, sure am glad we got divorced or she'd be kickin' my behinder for that one....

:cheers:

One of the stupidest things that I've done with a collectable was to trade a 1914 DWM complete rig with two matching magazines for a 41/42 Mauser complete rig with two matching magazines. Kicked myself for doing that, although I really needed the 41/42 rig. Never could find another 1914 DWM complete rig and just luckily after about 8 years the guy decided to sell some of his stuff and I was able to buy it back. Those 8 years I did some verbal abuse to myself each time I looked at the empty space where a DWM 1914 was suppose to be. --- Bill

I, too have made many, many blunders in my over 60 years of collecting. My only consolation is that I have also dealt with countless other collectors who have equally blundered in my favor, so I guess the books are pretty even.

I played with a german dagger my father had when I was a kid and left it out in the rain. My father was mad as hell because it not only rusted the blade, but the sheath was made out of cardboard or something and the rain totally ruined it. I got a butt bust'n for that.

On another note, I sold my 1961 Corvette to finance my first marriage/wedding. I should have keep the car.

And the bonds would still be worth a fortune today..... :( Damn.....

I just found out yesterday that the beautiful bluing around the Eacle/F on a 1944 AC PP is NOT, I say again, NOT impervious to a razor blade. Alas, Lacquer Stik doesn't protect that bluing either.

Ted, when you're done with my double-date....

I hear it already, stupid newdie, "imagine,taking a razor blade to a collectable....."

Lets keep this subject going. How about sliding a PO8 underneath a bed on a non sealed floor. I did it. And left it there for a year.

Had a pair of aluminum exhaust manifolds from a 1962 Pontiac factory drag race car (yes, factories made drag racing cars back then!!!!) . Took one to display rare and unique items at a show. Left the other in a Buick wagon. I junked the wagon to the local crusher a short time later, need I say more??????? Recently looked at mint cond. 1940/42 at 83 year old vets house. Whole top of the gun was frosted (like inside some bores), he had laid a banana peel on it coming home from Europe.

uhhhhh, no, because I've done, I mean, my cousin's friend did the same type of thing, just trying to remove a bit of rust...

Im glad I didnt do this but in 1980 I watched my best friend trade a swiss luger and a good first gen colt SAA for a console color tv,still makes me gag.

My story..bought a set of what I thought were original Mauser luger grips
on ebay for $100. They turned out to be reproductions which had been made to look old. Buyer offered no return policy.
Thanks to you guys I now know better! ANYBODY WANT TO BUY SOME GRIPS???
Thanks,
Stan

The stupidist thing that I have done is to start collecting them. NOW I CAN"T STOP!!!

Fur bearing Adder eh!? Must be in the same genis as The Central Cascade Snow Snake, and the dreaded and rare Hawaiian Pineapple Boa.

I really hate those things!!

The Spiney Snollygoster ain't no fun to run into either.

One of the MANY stupid things I am guilty of comes to mind when I wore an Original 1915 dated Luger holster to a WW2 reenactment at Camp Atterbury Ind. It rained all day long and when I got back to camp that evening the the holster was ruined . Both belt loops , Pull strap , & Buckel strap broke ,& the holster was so saturated it lost its shape . And then there were the times I tried to preserve the original leather chin strap on a German Helmet and a canteen and ruined those things as well .I dont know why but it took the destruction of these things for me to finally learn to leave original 60 -90 year old leather alone ! Man ! , I'm such an idiot ! :(
Shawn Grear

Not the stupidest but an example of what I'm capable of. At a show I bought a Sikes- Fairborn dagger with a presentation engraving on the blade to a Major of a British camando unit from his men dated 1943. On the way out a guy offered a trade of 3 unmarked F-S daggers for it, it sounded good so--. Bob Benson

In 1972 my best friend sold his dad's war trophy german helmet for seven dollars. I thought HE was dumb then, now I know I was dumb. I could have sold my little sister for six and begged him to carry the balance.

I am looking at it now. It is one of those display cases like butterflies are displayed. ( 1900-1960's). An original buck and ball (C.S.A.), also a paper charge for 10-12 Ga. shotgun (C.S.A.), Maynard primer tape and a .69 minnie (C.S.A.) and a .58 round ball (perfect mushroom). The paper is C.S.A. and is now ruined (Broken). From vibration. Broken cracks visable and screaming never to be touched again. The display still looks cool, but...Who want's a buck and ball and a three piece powder charge??? I even had to take the pins out and clean the glass where the tape primers were. The label had desintregated over the primers. And then I had to look at the untouchable cartridges.....:cheers: :o My fault! Again. Lets keep it going!! Fess Up !! Lets hear more stories ... You"ve got lots of company!!:) :) :)

God, I love this thread. On those occasions when my mind wakes up and decides to remind me of the times when gross stupidity ran rampant over my years of weapons and militaria collecting, I now have a place to turn and obtain an admitedly perverse form of comfort in the knowledge that even some of the best have their moments of profound screwing up. Would take far too long to list my "why the Hell did I do that", banging my head against the wall, downright dumb buys, sales and other things that go bump in the night stunts, BUT, I can truthfully say that I never had an urge to pet a rattle snake!

no good Walt, yah can't come here for comfort without leaving a tale of woe ;)



:p

Yes Walt, We need a story now. For example. I bought a French and Indian war powderhorn. Wonderful carving of a map , the area from Fort Ticonderoga to New York, It had a couple of worm holes near the base plug. I rubbed them and now have a hole .05 cm instead of a pencil dot or two. I got more stories. Come on Guys. You are not alone. This is education.

A couple of years ago I bought a superb 1940 police banner police Luger from a dealer's showcase. This was absolutely mint with matching magazine, the most perfect Luger I have ever seen. I tried to take it down to check all the numbers, and the cannon was stuck and wouldn't slide off the frame. Anyway, the dealer and I managed to get it off with a lot of pulling and cussing, and we both decided the pistol was so mint that it just needed some breaking in. Well, $1500 later it belonged to me. About three years after that I decided I had no real interest in non-military Lugers, so I let somebody talk me out of it for $2200. Three hours after the deal he called me up and said he found the reason it was so stiff. It had a hairline crack in one of the rails. Well, I returned his money and sold it in disgust to a young collector who didn't mind the defect and he was happy to get it for $700. Yes, that was a pretty expensive lesson!

Arron, Ouch, Yes, what we are talking about. Like my buying a Gardner Pattern canteen. Then trading it off for a couple of things that I liked. I later noticed a picture of the the canteen being held between two smiling guys in a trade magizine. Oh well.:cheers:

OK, here we go and the tears are already falling on the keyboard.
1968-Lake Sam Houston, Texas-Victim: 1916 matched through the mag Erfurt. Fishing with my father-in-law. At least he's fishing. I have far more luck plinking snakes off the the dead trees in the area we're fishing at with my trusty luger. I'm aiming, he gets a bass strike and hauls back on the rod which hits my gun hand.and the Erfurt finds a final watery grave,
1993-Victim: 1937 Krieghoff matched through the mag and beautiful, virtually pristine typical Krieghoff finish. Have had it for a few years and suddenly decide I want to run a few clips through it and see how she fires.
After 15 or 20 rounds, the trigger spring bites the dust so I take it to a local "gunsmith" for repairs. He repaired it alright, but must have used a piece of granite for a workbench. I get it back all scratched to Hell. Yell and scream but the damage is done. Finally sell it off because I can't stand to look at it anymore. What my kids did to thousands of dollars worth of stamp collection when they were very small is another story we won't even get into. Since they've lived to grow into adulthood and give me grand children, I guess I eventually got over it.

When I first started accumulating Lugers I went to a gun show in Houston. At the third table I came to was an all matching Erma 22 conversion unit in the wooden box for $75. Naturally, I wanted to look around some before spending my money, so when I came back 15 minutes later after coming to my senses---you know the rest of the story. :crying:

1995. I have a pristine Remington Manyard 1816 conversion rifle musket. After much searching I found an 1842 long range rear sight in matching condition ($250). The rear sights were often removed as volley fire was much more effective with the tactics used early in the civil war. I take it to a high end gunshop with very expensive shotguns and smith equipment. I showed him where the base of the original screw was and asked him to remove it and install sight with screw that I provided. He drilled another hole , threaded it, ground on sight with grinder and used lead wedges. Generally did a job that would fail a junior high shop class. I was sick. I just wanted a screw base removed. I EVEN PAID $18 so I could leave fast as I felt myself getting so angry that the police would be called. I don't trust the depth of the hole he drilled so I can't even use it as a scattergun.:cheers: :confused: :mad: The EVEN PAID is the stupid part. Lets keep it going. So others don't make the same mistakes. Learn from us. And laugh with us. :roflmao: By the way, most of us are not rolling in doe. I could qualify for Govt. cheese. It is the hit and miss with trades in collecting. More stories are good and help in learning about collecting.:)

The most unfortunate thing I did with a gun was to sell the M-1 Carbine my dad brought home from WW2, to help finance university.

I also have over the years sold guns for money that I might have raised in other ways or done without. These include a 98% 1913 Mfg. Colt 1911, a 99% 1943 Mfg. Colt 1911A1, a .22 Rifle S/N 500 made at the US Springfield Armory, a 95% 1911 Mfg'd at the US Springfield Armory, and a 98% 1942 Mfg Walther P-38 I got from the G.I. who brought it back. The P-38 turned up 42 years later with the son of the buyer here in Arizona, and traded a S&W Model 36 /w 3" barrel to get it back.

Another regret I have is falling in love with Colt SAAs for a few years. I sold them off after I decided they wern't all that they are cracked up to be.

I might add I sometimes wish I had less expensive interests.

Action: In 1983. I had the chance to buy at the Columbus Gun Show a near mint 1916 LP-08 rig with all matching numbers for $3k. I was advised that it was worth about $2500 and I decided to pass on the purchase, hoping to find another one at a better price. Here I am 23 years later still without a near mint LP-08 rig for my collection. I was an idiot for not paying the $500 premium!!!

Reaction: When you find an item that you truly desire with condition, do not hesitate, even if you must pay a 10%-20% premium.

Happy hunting,
Albert