Buying, Selling or Holding
 

What do you plan to do! Good side, More Inventory! Cost, Fees or Bargains, Desperation!!!!! What To Do???? Asking You Experts and Long Time Collectors!!!! You must Have Lived Through This Misery Decision!!!!!!!! What have you learned and can share with us~

This has been brought up before, but not in a while.
I'm in the category of thinking I'm good, should have another 20 yrs, so the collecting will continue. But since I know of folks who died when they were 50, all of us should have a will and where the collection goes.
I think most collectors decide on national auctions as the easiest. That, or they blithely believe that they will get top price from someone who will buy the entire collection. With a few exceptions, a few only, I don't know of more than one, maybe two collections that have been bought whole. Let alone all the misc stuff that a lot of us have.

A direct bequest or distribution or directions in a will would be nice start, I agree! Not every one has a will, many are don't mention them circumstances change! I would make some special requests to to someone who love lugers as much as I. I would rather give my good ones to some one or non relative then wind up in a pawn shop! Have someone like Tom at Legacy ask them for advice who I used in the past! I welcome suggestions! Some of my old luger ammo I would send to Ed who appreciates them!

I've said it before. "Be givin' while you're livin', so you're knowin' where it's goin'. Wills are only as good as the executor.

How did Ralph Shattucks Estate Sell All Those Lugers?

I'm buying, matter of fact I'm picking up a 1940 model from a local Alaska collector tomorrow to be the newer brother to my 1918 DWM

They were bought by rock island - not sure if all or most, or if they sold some to other auctions.

The inventory was sold separate to his collection, but all was sold in a few years as far as I know.

66 year accumulation , 76 years old + gradually selling off - leaving some WWII milsurps to grandson who appreciates them - wife + daughters can keep what they want + rest to be sold at auction if i go before rest of the accumulation - my first P08 is now my last , balance sold fast at substantial profits , but i miss them -

there once was an occasion 3-4 years ago, a member came on and told about a purchase he had made from a neighbor's widow.... he was bragging about the way below market value he had given her...ended by saying she didn't know the value of the luger and he got it cheap......

that is an unacceptable way to do business.......honesty will make you sleep better at night.....

I remember that. Makes a person feel sick reading it. Sometimes, “what comes around goes around”. His widow may get the same treatment one day.

That stuff does come back to bite people. I have a conscious and could never do that. One time I looked at some guns a lady was selling for her mom and her dad passed away and helped her look up blue book values and she had one Lee-Enfield that was a weird Irish Constabulary Rifle that was made from a Lee Metford and worth a good chunk of change. I got her in touch with a collector who got her the real value for it even though I didn't buy a thing. Goodness to people in need will be repaid just like being a douche to people in need will be repaid to you also . Ive seen it many times

Of all the things we humans should posses integrity and honesty are on the top. Unfortunately we seem to be losing some of both. Bill

Reminds me of when I was at my local FFL back in 2007, he was busy and while I was waiting an older gentleman was at the counter with a Radom. I asked to look at it. It was a 2 lever in the D prefix range brown grips. I would rate around 95% finish, bore in excellent shape but right front top portion of the grip had a decent chunk out of it. Said it was his uncles bring back.

He asked if I would give him $300 for it. I told him it was worth $400 or so cause the grip was bad and grip replacements would run about $100.

I told him to talk to Billy, the FFL, and he could put it on auction and if he could not sell it for at least $400 to have Billy give me a call.

The guy also told me he had sold a German Dagger and a German parachutists knife, I assumed it was a gravity knife, for the princely sum of $400 for both. I didn’t have the heart to tell him he prolly cuda got way more.

4 months go by and I get a call from the FFL wanting to know if I remembered the guy with the Radom and he wanted to know if I was interested in buying the Radom for $275 out the door.

I said it was worth more than that and he said "Ya I told him too but that’s what he wants for it and he didn't want to put it on auction. He just wanted to get rid of it"

What could I do but say “I’ll take it”. Found original replacement grips for $79 and sold the busted ones 6 years later for $58.

Same year a few months later I checked in one day with the same FFL and he had just taken in a Walter PP a guy found in a wall of a house he bought and was renovating.
It turned out to be a mismatched end of war cigarette put together in excellent shape OTD for $225 the same day.

What goes around comes along - at least I believe that.
My conscious doesn't allow me to rip someone off. I have been asked the value of stuff and told them, its worth this $$$ but I'd pay $$$ and sometimes got it and sometimes didn't.
I think helping is very important in our lives. Ripping off someone isn't my sort of thing, but i've met many folks who act like they have 'gotten' over on someone. No thanks.
When I see Bob selling his dads guns, I cringe a bit, but not everything is important to them as you and me. I always just shake my head, but for all I know, they kept the coin collection or kept his (or her) car.
:)

Heartless, for sure. Remember that "success" in business correlates heavily with sociopathy.

Sociopathy~ Great Description!!!

I'm all for getting a good to great deal, but I'd not rip someone off, especially a widow. I have to think in the days of internet a person having no clue about the real value of a firearm has to be much lower than even 10 years ago.

“You can't change human nature.” The old cliché draws support from the persistence of human behavior in new circumstances. Shakespeare's plays reveal that no matter how much language, technology and mores have changed in the past 400 years, human nature is largely undisturbed.

It is also said that if mankind ever discovers a 'cure' for human nature we will finally achieve utopia.

By definition, human nature includes the core characteristics (feelings, psychology, behaviors) shared by all people. We all have different experiences of the humans in our life, and this is where the disputes begin. Some people will tell you humans are 'good' or 'bad', or 'predators' or 'capable of great kindness.

What I know is that the type of human you choose to become is up to you.

Words can be be more powerful than bullets and takes much longer to heal!! Once Fired Cannot Be Forgotten or Recalled~