C96 bidding gone wild - What happened here???
 

I was looking for a project Broomhandle and found one with Chinese markings and two bulges in the barrel. Looked like a typical bottom feeder and I thought I was gonna be able to snag it for maybe $400-$500, but then this happened:

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/817203635

$3,925 seems astronomical for this gun, so am I missing something? Super rare gun or drunk bidders without their glasses on???? :eek:

Drunk bidders.
 

The auction is now over. Someone is going to feel very sorry and foolish. A $500 gun IMHO. On the other hand, I bought my first artillery rig in Charlotte, NC in 1994, for $1,750. (Complete rig) Lost it to divorce and finally replaced it last year, for $5,900......:grr:

That's what I thought too, maybe even less. I'm still scratching my head, wondering why people like this never bid on my guns.

There is just no upside in trying to understand why certain dogs at auction bring crazy money!
It will only make your head hurt.

Perhaps the Chinese characters really said "Mao's box cannon". :)

Same guy bid $990 on a Spanish .25 Ruby: https://www.gunbroker.com/item/803646734 . I think I can see a pattern emerging, like "lottery winner starting a gun collection"

Poor grandma's gone
 

Ya know, the thought crossed my mind as well. Some one hit the lottery or their grandma died...

The weird thing is that 4 or 5 guys overbid grossly on it, this is why I'm still thinking that I may have missed the finer points of this gun... But maybe not, they say there's one born every minute so there's plenty of them out there.

I saw a guy who had a tattoo that looked just like this. Perhaps a matched pair!

What do you recon it says?

Curl

The seller claims that it says "cities public safety bureau". Could also say "decommissioned due to bulged barrel" ;)

That thing's a piece of crap!

Older and non-mainland Chinese characters are read right to left so hu4shi4gong1an1ju2. Hu is Chinese shorthand for Shanghai so Shanghai Public Security Bureau or simply Shanghai Police Station.

Somebody wised up.It's been relisted.

A wartime commercial C-96 sold at an auction I attended yesterday for $900 plus 18-21% markup depending upon cash or CC.

Some pitting and I don't know about bore condition.

What I do know is that it was clearly missing the safety altogether and the hammer wasn't sitting against the bolt/firing pin properly. I hope the buyer is happy.