Novi Michigan Gun Show
 

I picked up a nice 1916 navy with about 75-80% blueing and little straw. It has a navy mag that is not numbered to the gun. Good grips. The blueing was worn but I couldn't detect any pitting. The gun was never monkeyed with. The bore had light pitting on the first one inch but was good after that.

It was being offered on consignment and the owner was coming by at the last minute of the show to pick up his stuff. It was offered at $3100. I took a serious look and when the owner came to get his stuff he said $2500 bottom line and I took it. No Negotiating AT ALL on my part.

The funny thing is that 4-5 other collectors saw the gun and thought that it was a nice looking gun. But they did nothing about it. Their loss.

There was a nice DWM Borchardt For $25,000. The gun is nicer than mine but his holster was a pile of junk and the stock was not numbered. But what makes this gun nice is that it has the original case, three non matching mags and ALL the tools. This is the first time that I have really had a good look at a Borchardt hold open mag.

Not many buyers at the show. A friend of mine had an all matching except for the mag 1917 army for sale at $650. Some gun tried to talk him down to $600. I thought that the gun was good deal at $650.

Another friend of mine had a nice display of about 7 not-for-sale Lugers. Another friend had a 1906 navy ($1700) and a 1908 navy ($1500) but both had a lot of pitting on them. Another friend brought by a Portuguese navy and a Fat Barrel to show me. My knees are still aching from begging him to sell them to me. Beautiful Lugers. I even bought the guy a chocolate custard ice cream. But it didn't help.

Not as big a show as Reno, but still some interesting stuff here and the prices are lower than Renos. The show is the Michigan Antique Gun show and they only allow guns there that are made 1964 and before.
Big Norm

Norm,
DWM Borchardt stocks are not numbered. For some reason, after the switch from Loewe to DWM, they stopped numbering the stocks. I am not sure if the transition was abrupt, but all of the DWMs I have seen or read about do not have numbered stocks.

Given the competeness of the cased set, the $25K price is probably close to the going rate, even with the mismatched magazines. Also, most of the Borchardt holsters I have seen, including mine, really show their age. I would love to have a nice condition holster, but even if one was available, the cost would be staggering.

Ron,
I thought that DWM gradually fazed out numbering the stocks for the Borchardt. I could be wrong. My holster is very nice, but I am missing the strap that holds the nose of the holster to the stock. I have some black velcore there now until I can do something about it. I also have some other work planned for Jerry B.
Big Norm